19 Weeks

 Baby is the size of a mango.  Developing a protective coating over her skin, called vernix caseosa.  Nerve cells for the sense of taste, hearing, sight and smell are developing in the brain.

 I had a growth spurt this week.  I think I gained 3-4 pounds and my bump is clearly bulging out now.  As far as symptoms go, I have been feeling really uncomfortable after eating a large meal.  I find it hard to get comfortable and breathing is more difficult.  I have had a lot of heartburn and acid reflux which is often cured by popping a Tum.  But the biggest symptom is...

I felt the baby move!! Last week I was feeling some "bubbles" that could easily be mistaken for gas, but this week I felt the baby do a flip in my belly.  It was the coolest feeling in the world.  Just knowing that there is life inside of me.  Just knowing the baby is saying "hi" from the inside.  Oh, it is just so unreal.  I can't wait to feel it more often and I especially can't wait to feel it kick from the outside.

We are less than a week away from finding out the gender of the baby.  Every day is a little bit closer to knowing whether I will have a son or a daughter.  I can't wait to start planning the nursery and thinking a little more about first and middle names.  All of it will seem so much more real once we know if this is a baby boy or girl.  Not to mention it will mark the halfway point of my first pregnancy. 

On a side note, Matt had his first baby dream.  In the dream, I had just given birth and was unable to take care of the newborn baby.  I gave Matt one bottle of milk to feed the baby with for the entire day.  Of course that didn't last very long, so for the rest of the day he just used Ranch dressing in the bottle.  Ha!!  Not sure what the meaning of this is, but I think I better remove the Ranch from the fridge before August...

 

18 Weeks

Baby is yawning, hiccuping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking and swallowing.

Total Weight Gain: 8 pounds

What I miss: Eating a turkey deli sandwich. and my morning coffee.

Sleep: Starting to become less comfortable to sleep.  I'm not supposed to sleep on my stomach or back so laying on one side makes my hips ache a bit.  I might have to get a pregnancy pillow to be more comfortable.  Still getting up once a night for a bathroom break.

Symptoms:  Acne, lower back stiffness, big appetite, thirsty.  NO NAUSEA!

Cravings: My sweet tooth is baaaack!! Uh oh! I ate a lot of cookies, donuts, and ice cream this week.  I had such an aversion to sweets since December, but not anymore.  This week I made up for lost time, but I plan on not overdoing it so much now.  :-)

Gender: We are finding out in less than two weeks!  Come on March, you can go a little faster, please.

Movement: I might have felt a few "bubbles" this week.  I'm pretty sure it was the baby moving around in there just based on the location (lower abdomen).  It just felt like a little tickle a couple times, but still nothing drastic yet.

Maternity Clothes:  Ooh yes, please!  I am loving my Old Navy maternity skinny jeans.  (Maternity skinny jeans? lol)  They are so comfy and really accent my belly.

Milestones:  Not much really other than Matt really noticing that my bump is looking bigger.  We also talked about baby names, which is a huge step!  Nothing decided for sure, but we have a first name picked out for both genders that we really love.

17 Weeks

Baby is the size of an onion and is forming bones and fingerprints!

I FINALLY FEEL BETTER!  It only took four months.  Ha!  This week I finally feel like I'm back to being my normal self.  The nausea has almost disappeared completely except for gagging on my toothpaste occasionally.  I only had one icky day, but I think it's because I forgot to eat when I was off work for the day. I feel more energetic and have been laying on the couch a lot less.

My stomach feels back to normal, as well.  Up until this point, my stomach was playing tricks on me.  I did not know if I was hungry or needed to vomit, but now my stomach is back to growling to let me know it's hungry.  I like this a lot!

I thought my acne was going away for a while, but I was wrong.  It came back.

I am still waiting to feel some little baby movements in there.  I have felt twitches in my lower abdoman, but not strong enough that I just KNOW it's the baby.

Milestone:  A few people I work with told me they can see a bump (without me asking!)

I'm still feeling like it's a girl in there, but I will not be at all surprised if it is a boy because my mind is messing with me and everyone keeps telling me they think it's a boy. I did have a dream it was a boy, so we'll see in about three weeks.

I have my Old Navy maternity jeans on and it feels like heaven.

Our best friends in South Dakota had their little baby girl this week.  So happy for them and can't wait to get advice along the way.

16 Weeks

Baby is the size of an avocado and has ears that can hear my voice now.

Belly:  As I sit here with my jeans unbuttoned, I realize my body is changing.  We attempted to find some maternity jeans last weekend but were unsuccessful.  We will be heading to the mall this weekend in search of some elastic-waisted pants so I feel more comfy!  Luckily, I wear scrubs most days and those are quite forgiving in the waist.  A friend of mine even let me borrow the scrubs she wore during her last pregnancy.  I definitely am starting to notice my belly rounding out and becoming more firm.  My scale at home still says I have gained 5 pounds.  I have also had some slight lower back pain which my doctor said is due to my hips widening.

Morning Sickness:  I still throw up on occasion.  I have a feeling this might last my entire pregnancy?  I hope not, but I feel fine most of the time.

Doctor:  I went to my new doctor's office this week and had quite a pleasant experience.  I saw a midwife for my first appointment.  This particular practice has about 6-8 midwives and two doctors.  As I progress through my pregnancy, I will probably see a different one each visit so that when it comes time to deliver, I have at least met everyone in case my doctor of choice is not available.  The midwife I saw was very helpful, nice, and truly caring.  She checked the baby's heartbeat with the Doppler and let me hold it to listen and see how fast it was beating.  (140) 

Next appointment:  March 28.  This is the BIG DAY!!! We will get to see the baby during the 20 week anatomy scan and also meet with the doctor for a check up.  I AM SO EXCITED!  We considered going to ENLC to get an early gender ultrasound, but in the end, I decided I could wait a few more weeks to find out.  The suspense is killing me and each day feels like a year, but I figure we will find out in a few weeks and we will have the rest of our lives to "know" the gender of our baby.

I think that's about all my news for the week.  I am looking forward to feeling the baby move.  It could happen any time now...