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...