20 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 20 weeks-- Halfway Point!!

Wow I look big in this picture!!

 Also, you probably can't tell but I FINALLY dyed my hair again this past weekend, first time in about 6 months! I'm so much happier with the color, my natural color ain't for me.

Size of baby: According to babycenter.com the baby is about the length of a banana

Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he's measured from head to toe.)

He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +7 1/2 pounds.

Maternity Clothes: still regular clothes, planning on doing a shopping trip in the next couple weeks. I have NO winter clothes that will work with a bigger belly.

Gender: BOY!!!! So happy I can finally say that!

Movement: He's been a lot more active this week and I'm finally feeling little kicks. Subtle but definitely there. Mainly around 9-10am after I eat breakfast and at night around 8-9pm when I'm watching t.v.

What I miss: clear skin and a good night's sleep

Sleep: This week has been shitty, first from the anticipation of the ultrasound and the last few nights I just can't get/stay comfortable...at least not until about 30 minutes before my alarm goes off, then my bed is the most comfortable place ever. Go figure.

Symptoms: Still some backaches though my boss bought me a new chair for work which has helped a lot. Feeling more movements.

Cravings: Nothing in particular. My appetite is still pretty hit or miss.

 

Best Moment this week: Seeing our healthy baby BOY on the ultrasound!!! Also, Kristian put together the crib on Monday afternoon to surprise me when I got home from work (he was so excited over the news of his son) and we bought the matching dresser/changing table last night.

What I am looking forward to: Going to start registering this weekend and looking at paint swatches for the nursery.

It's a surprise regardless

One thing that gets debated a lot on the baby message boards and in real life is whether or not to find out the gender of the baby before delivery. The typical argument you hear for wanting to wait is that it's one of life's few surprises so better to wait to experience that surprise. For those that choose to wait, I give you all the credit in the world, that takes an insane amount of patience and willpower. Neither of which I have! So Kudos. But here's the thing, even if you find out during your ultrasound or gender reveal party or another way it's still a surprise!

Believe me, laying on that table being 99% sure I was having a little girl and then hearing it was actually a boy was definitely a surprise! A very happy surprise but a surprise none the less. And for me I have to say I'm glad I got that surprise during the ultrasound and not in the delivery room. Finding out the way we did was great... for us. I loved that it was just the two of us (and the ultrasound tech, but I forgot she was there) rather than a room full of doctors and nurses. I loved that we were able to hug and kiss and celebrate with each other immediately and that I wasn't drugged up, exhausted and in pain when I heard the news of my son. It was also nice to have that information for just the two of us for a short time before making all the calls to family and friends and hearing their excitement. For us it was perfect and I wouldn't change it. Plus I now have 4 months to try to wrap my brain around the fact that I'm having a SON! And of course to shop until my house is bursting with blue.

I don't want anyone to think I'm knocking those that wait to find out, as I said, I give you all the credit in the world and I'm sure that experience was/will be amazing but for us finding out early was the way to go. So for any of you out there that are pregnant or plan to be pregnant and debating whether or not to find out early it's just something to keep in mind. Finding out the sex of your baby is a HUGE moment and can be very emotional so just make sure the setting you find it out in is what you feel most comfortable with.

So tell me- did/will you find out the gender before the baby arrives? Any regrets with your choice?

The BIG ultrasound

First off, thank you all for your congratulations on our little boy. We are so excited and can't wait to meet this little dude.

The ultrasound yesterday couldn't have gone any better. I had tried to focus solely on the excitement of finding out the gender so as to distract myself from any thoughts of all the potential problems they could find. If the baby has an issue, typically this is the stage where they will spot it.

Our tech did a great job pointing everything out to us and letting us know each section looked good. It's truly the most amazing thing to be able to see your child's heart beating, to see it's little arms and legs and even his brain. Technology is unbelievable. She did struggle at one point because he was facing my back and she needed to see his face, she started shaking my belly with the wand trying to convince him to turn around which was a bit uncomfortable. Stubborn little bugger.

He's measuring right on schedule and everything looks great. She was able to zoom in a bit on his face and while it's still a bit skeletor looking there's no doubt that he has his daddy's full lips! I so hope he looks like his daddy...but maybe with his mama's green eyes :-)

She finally got down to his boy parts and checked to make sure we wanted to know. I cannot tell you how stunned I was when she said boy. I immediately looked at Kristian and as soon as I saw the (happy) tears in his eyes I lost it. We were both a bit of a mess, just crying and laughing. Sidenote- when I got to work my coworker was worried something was wrong because you could tell I had been crying (all happy tears of course). Honestly it was one of the best moments of my life ever. He claims it was the third best news he's ever gotten (the first and second being when I said yes to his proposal and told him I was pregnant) but I suspect this topped those. He was DYING for a little boy.

Now even though everything looked great we are going back at the end of the month for a fetal echocardiogram. You see Kristian was born 2 months premature and when he was born he had pulmonary valve stenosis which is a condition with the heart. Thankfully they were able to do surgery and fix the issue and he's been fine ever since. He mentioned this to the doctor and she said that just to be on the safe side she wanted to do the fetal echo and check out the baby's heart more closely since the condition can be hereditary. She assured us that it looks fine so far and we shouldn't be worried but better to be prepared at delivery if there is an issue. I'm not worried and just excited to see the little guy again in a few weeks.

I still have so much more to write but this is already ridiculously long so I'll leave you with one of my most favorite pictures from yesterday. Our little man sucking his thumb. So cute I can't handle it.

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

Results are in:

It's a.......

BOY!!!!!!!!!

The evidence.

So much for mother's intuition! I did have a feeling last night I may be wrong on my girl vibe.

Our handsome little dude.

He looks perfect and we couldn't be more thrilled!!

I'll post more later, still in shock and super excited!

19 Weeks

Pregnancy Highlights

How Far Along: 19 weeks

*taken this morning*

I didn't realize until I saw this picture that the dress has a black line that cuts right across the boob. Makes the boob look deformed. Weird.

Size of baby: According to babycenter.com the baby is about the size of a large heirloom tomato

Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.

Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: +6 pounds.

Maternity Clothes: still regular clothes, though after a certain "pen left in the pants and getting ink all over my white clothes in the dryer" incident I may need to go shopping sooner than expected since my limited wardrobe is now even more limited.

Gender: Monday is the BIG day!!! I'm so excited I can't stand it. Don't forget to vote in the poll on the sidebar on what you think it is.

Movement: The last couple nights I've started feeling little "taps" in my lower abdomen, or like a gentle pulsing feeling. It's so cool.

What I miss: not feeling like I have to pee every 30 minutes and I know it's only going to get worse.

Sleep: Pretty good this week, even though I still get up 2-3 times a night to pee I'm able to fall back asleep pretty fast.

Symptoms: Still some backaches and what I'm guessing is round ligament pain. Things growing and shifting around in there. Also, my belly button seems to be flattening out more and more everyday.

Cravings: Still smoothies and this morning I had a craving for M&M's which I might buy at lunch.

Best Moment this week: Feeling those little taps, I think the movement is going to start picking up more and more.

What I am looking forward to: Getting to see the baby again on Monday and hopefully finding out the gender!! Also, Kristian is getting the crib today, we decided on a different one than the one I posted about (long story).

Hung

It only took 5 months but we finally hung some curtains in our bedroom. We weren't in a rush since our bedroom is on the third floor of the house and overlooks the woods so we didn't have to worry so much about the privacy factor. In fact, Kristian would have been fine with never having curtains since he doesn't want to cover our view of the woods and the water. I, however, have gotten really sick of being woken up at the ass crack of dawn every morning thanks to the bright sun that shines in and my eye mask only helps so much.

So I finally talked him into letting us hang some curtains on the condition that we can leave them open at night so he can still wake up to the view but he has to close the curtains when he gets up, which is around 5:30am anyways. It's worked out so far.

I had a hard time finding curtains that I thought might work. I didn't want to get matching sage curtains to go with our duvet cover, for one it would be hard to match exactly and for two I don't really like the matchy matchy look. So I needed something to compliment them and I think/hope I accomplished that.

I found these curtains on sale at Burlington Coat Factory. I was able to get the two curtain panels, two sheer panels and rod for a total of about $85. Not bad. Cheap enough to where if I get sick of them and want to replace them in a year I won't feel so bad.

Here are the pictures:

It's a little hard to tell in the pictures but the curtains are a light grayish/taupe color. The pictures make them look more brown. It actually helps bring out the color of the threading in the duvet color. Not sure what color we'll eventually paint the walls.  

Here's what it looks like when they are closed. I like the circle design in it, gives it a bit of subtle character.

More of a close up of the design.

I'm not 100% in love with them but I like them well enough for now and I've been sleeping much better in the mornings with the room now darker. Plus I think having curtains just makes the room look a bit more finished and grownup.

Baby Bump- Weeks 16-18

Below are the pictures of my baby bumps from weeks 16-18. I'm definitely growing!

Here are some closeup shots. I'm wearing a different tank top in the week 17 picture. I went ahead and bought another one in a larger size for later on and when I discovered the one I usually wear was in the wash I pulled the larger one out for the picture so that's why it's a bit looser on me.

I also finally broke down and did a bare belly shot. These are weird. Not sure I'll post a bare belly shot each time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for no stretch marks and lathering my belly in cocoa butter twice a day.

Exactly one more week until our anatomy scan and we find out the gender!!!