21 Weeks

It has been an interesting and very productive week.  I'm not even sure where to begin!

My dad had to go back to the hospital last Saturday morning because of more complications related to his antibiotics.  Thankfully he got to go home a couple of days ago, but it's still hard not being closer and able to help him and my mom.  Anyway... I also started my first registry for little miss girl on Saturday at Target (will post a link soon) and I brought Logan with me to "help".  He was a pretty good boy but I had to let him hold the scanner gun a few times to keep him happy :).  I don't think he registered for anything crazy, though.

On Sunday (I think), I brought out my scarf fabric and started looking at newborn hat patterns that I could easily make myself.  Logan had a lot of cute hats that he wore for the first month or so, but I wanted to make some more unique ones for this baby.  I might even make her some coordinating booties and/or mittens.  I made a new cover for my Snoogle full-body pregnancy pillow and now I'm looking at making some Boppy pillow covers :).  I guess I'm in sewing-nesting mode right now because that's just about all I want to do in my spare time.  I'm excited about it because I have a sister-in-law and a good friend who are also expecting in a couple of months so I plan on whipping up some cute things for them too ;).  I'll be posting more pictures on my Facebook page if anyone wants to see what I'm making.

On to the weekly highlights:

Movement
Little girl is moving a lot!  At the last ultrasound, her head was up near my right ribs but I think she has changed positions quite a few times this week.  Some of her movements are so big that I keep thinking I should be able to feel them on the outside of my tummy, but not yet.  Hopefully that will happen soon so Jason and Logan can experience them with me :).

Discomfort
That's an understatement.  As I said, I think she has moved, probably toward the left side of my belly because my rib has been hurting really really bad this week. I've only taken Tylenol for it a couple of times (I'd rather not take medicine if I don't absolutely have to), but it has been very uncomfortable and painful.  Sleeping has also gotten more uncomfortable.  As I said above, I made a new cover for my Snoogle pillow, so I've started sleeping with it again and I think it has helped a little but I still wake up with a sore back.  I have to be careful when rolling over in bed now, because if I don't support my belly or if I roll the wrong way, my round ligaments get pulled and I wake up from the pain (and so does Jason) ;).

Appetite
Holy hunger pains, Batman!  Over the past few days, my stomach has been growling constantly.  It seems like 15 minutes after I've eaten a meal, I'm hungry again.  I'm hoping my metabolism is working efficiently enough to keep me from gaining a bunch of weight, but I'm still a little worried.  Yesterday I made the mistake of drinking a chick-fil-a milkshake after work and I suffered the consequences of it all throughout the night.  I think it's safe to say either I still have some issues with lactose or chick-fil-a uses something strange in their milkshakes that my body didn't like.  Either way, I think I'll just avoid them in the future :).

Baby
Baby is about a pound this week and 10.5" long from head to toe.  I don't think I trust my baby app to be exactly accurate when it comes to the weight and length so I think I'll just follow what the doctor told me last week. 

My next appointment is next week after which I will be scheduling my glucose test (yay).  I will try to post an update after the appointment. 

20 Weeks & Ultrasound update

I'M HALFWAY DONE!!!!  I had to get that off my chest :).  I'm so excited.  To whoever has been pregnant before, I'm sure you know what I mean when I say that every new milestone reached is not only exciting but also a relief.  20 weeks is a big one... 24 weeks is next.  If the baby were to be born at 24 weeks, doctors would legally be required to try to keep her alive.  That one is kind-of happy and sad at the same time, but I won't go into that :). 

Lots of things have been going on this week.  I had my 20 week ultrasound today and it was great.  Jason went with me this time, which was nice.  They confirmed again that we're having a girl (yay!), so I celebrated afterward by buying her a sweater dress :).  It's my first baby purchase this time around and I'm afraid I'm going to go on a baby-clothes-shopping-spree soon.  Someone please stop me.  Anyway, back to the ultrasound... baby girl was moving around a lot so she made it difficult for the doctor to see her heart as well as he hoped, but everything looked good from what he could see.  She "appears" to have a perfect heart, no holes, no artery transposition, etc. which is what we've been praying for.  The doctor mentioned the amniocentesis again but I think the look on my face told him we were still declining because he didn't push it :). 

From the measurements they took, baby weighs approximately 14oz, which is perfect.  They said the baby is usually about a pound around 21 weeks.  I just hope she isn't trying to beat her dad in the birth weight category.  He was 10 lbs 12 oz!!!  Yikes.

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I was feeling movement to the right of my belly button and I wasn't sure if it was baby or digestion (because of my hernia repair sensitivity) but I now know it is definitely the baby.  She is head-up near my right ribs and it feels like she's standing directly on my bladder.  I can't see any movements from outside my belly, but I'm sure that will happen soon.  She seems to be just as active as Logan was.

Other than her weight, she is supposed to be around 10 inches long from head to toe.  She's a growing girl! :)  Based on everything the doctor saw, he said I don't need to come back for another 8 weeks so that will be sometime in September.  Crazy how fast time is flying by :).

Now we just have to come up with a name... some of the ones we've been arguing about are Brinna, Elise, Annabelle, Annalie, Anna/Annie, Suzie, Kendall, Noelle (middle name), Joy, Emmy, etc....  God knows what her name is, so I guess I should just chill out and we will figure it out soon enough :).

Have a great week!  I'll be back next week with the 21 week update.

21 Weeks

Once again, I'm sorry this is a few days late, but I was busy relaxing with my family last week ;).  I'm now at 21.5 weeks and I'm getting more and more excited :).  I'm feeling Mr. Baby more and more... he's an active little guy!  I got a phonecall from my doctor while we were in Oregon and she said that I need to get another ultrasound so that they can get a better picture of his heart and the umbilical cord.  She said that doesn't mean anything is necessarily wrong, they just couldn't get a good picture last time because he was moving so much.  I don't have a problem with it at all... just means I can see my little guy again :). 

We flew up to Boise on Tuesday and that was a different experience.  We didn't have to go through the new xray machines, which was good (I wouldn't have anyway), but I had a head cold and it zapped every bit of energy that I had left.  We also had to deal with the time change on top of our trip taking about a total of 18 hours.  It was rough :P.  My family was great about letting us sleep in and relax while we were there, though.  I just hope we didn't take advantage too much ;).  Our trip back to GA was even longer (about 20 hours), but it's more of the same (sick, tired, etc.) so I won't go into it :).  Spending Christmas with my family was really awesome, though, and if necessary I would've driven the entire way just to be there :).

Besides having a head cold, I've been feeling pretty good.  The only problems I'm still having are hip and back pain.  I'm not sure if I can do anything about them, but I'll try just about anything (safe) at this point.

I had my first baby shower the day after Christmas and it was so much fun!  There were only about 8 or 9 people total, but that didn't matter... we had some good conversations and they more than blessed us with gifts!  We got lots of adorable baby clothes, blankets (made by my mom & sister), a monitor, gift sets, bibs, a diaper bag, etc. etc. etc.  Our kid is going to be the best looking boy in Georgia! :)  Now that I know we're having a boy, it's going to be really hard to resist the cute clothes whenever I go into Target.  Maybe I'll allow myself to buy 1 outfit per month or something ;).

Jason and I have been discussing name possibilities and I think we came up with a solid choice this afternoon.  I really want to tell people, but we're going to sleep on it and see what we think in the next day or two :).  As soon as I can, I'll let everyone know :).  I'm so excited to start using his name when I talk to him :).

Anyway, here are the growth/development details of the week:

• Your baby continues to grow and develop inside of you. He now measures approximately 7 inches long and can weigh up to 10 ounces. In the coming weeks, your baby will continue to grow and mature at a fast rate.
• The hair on his scalp is more visible and by week 21 he has probably developed eyelashes and eyebrows!
• He is waking and sleeping in regular intervals, which you may be able to tell from his movements. He is also swallowing amniotic fluid to help his digestive system mature for life in the "outside world". His intestines also start slowly relaxing and contracting this week.
• Notice any small, repetitive movements in your abdomen? It may be his first case of the hiccups! Usually, these movements occur for a few minutes at a time. As your baby grows larger, these movements will feel stronger. And remember, all babies are different, some hiccup multiple times a day, and others, only once in awhile.

I think that's about it for now.  Please be praying for our name choice and for the upcoming ultrasound.  Thanks for stopping by! :)