20 weeks - halfway there!

Well I'm 20 weeks today. It's unbelievable that it's halfway over already but it's all just starting to feel real! Baby boy has been quite active lately, especially since I downed about 2 quarts of regular iced tea yesterday. It was fun, but for both our sakes I made decaf today!! I had a doctor appointment this morning, very quick and routine. Good blood pressure, good measurements, and a good heart rate of 130. Since he was such a wigglemunch at the last ultrasound they scheduled me for another this coming Monday to get the rest of the info/measurements they weren't able to get at the last one.

Over the weekend we celebrated 4 college graduations in the family - my sister Ginger as a respiratory therapist, her 2 daughters, and one of their boyfriends. It was the first time those nieces got to see the belly and they couldn't stop themselves from lifting the shirt to see it! My sister Beth is having a baby in July, so we had the cousins "high-five" as we bumped bellies. :) I also accidentally spilled the beans to my dad about the sex of the baby. Hence why I've been openly referring to baby as "he" in all my posts! I had signed my sister's card from "Jen, Jack and Baby boy" and my dad read the card. Oops! Well at least the name is still a secret. We have a name that we've been comparing all others against, but I'm not sure we'll actually settle on it until we meet him.

Starting at this halfway mark, baby is measured from head to heel instead of crown to rump, so he's about the length of a banana now.

19 Weeks!

I can't believe I'm already one week away from being halfway there! In some ways I feel like it all just started - and I haven't grown a tremendous amount yet, so it's not always in my face that I have a baby on the way! He's growing though! Although the movements still aren't very strong I'm feeling them more often, and it's a fun reminder.

Here's a little about what baby boy is up to (according to babycenter.com)

Your baby's sensory development is exploding! His brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that he may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to him, 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 mango. His arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of his body now. His kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on his skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

Cafe Disco

I've been feeling a good deal of movement these days! They still aren't very strong yet but now and then I feel like he's hosting Cafe Disco in there! He found my bladder last night and has mistaken it for a trampoline. It's funny though, makes me jump!

18 Weeks! (Spoiler alert Dad)

My dad wants to be surprised with the sex of the baby, so I had to give him fair warning that this post contains that information! Well I've been feeling subtle movements for the past couple weeks - nothing big, but they're growing! The belly is growing and starting to get in the way when I bend over or pick up something bulky!

We had THE ultrasound this morning aaaand... it's a boy!! The technician was able to tell right away. He was a squirmy fellow this morning, and we even got to see him flex an arm! Nice muscles little guy. We saw little hands and little feet, a long spine and pretty much everything going on in there! Good heart rate of 142.

McBaby is about the size of a bell pepper or sweet potato now! (depending on which site I check!)

Ahoy! Our little pirate.

Little foot!

Mothers Day!

Although McBaby isn't in the outside world yet, we are still celebrating! We are in Maine for Regan's graduation, Mothers Day and Regan's birthday, all 3 days in a row! I didn't know whether or not to expect anything for myself for Mothers Day, or if that will be more next year, but my lovely in-laws got me a maternity shirt, a prenatal yoga DVD, some bibs and baby lotion. My lovely hubby and daddy-to-be bought a couple baby books and I was so touched! One was baby Elmo "So Big", and anyone who's hung out with him recently knows his amazing ability to do the Elmo giggle and voice so that was perfect. He also got a little pirate book and each page has a different texture... leave it to Cap'n Jack! :) Whether it's a boy or a girl (4 more days until we find out!) it will love pirates!

Happy Mothers Day all you moms out there!

Sympathy UTI

So I wrote a couple weeks ago about how my little kitty had a bladder infection. Well she's really in-tune with me, because it turns out I also had a urinary tract infection at the time (sorry if TMI). Without getting into details, the UTI finally got noticed and I'm on antibiotics now. At the time I was very frustrated with Callie, but now I think it's sweet that she was having "sympathy symptoms"... haha.

17 Weeks!

Feeling great! The belly is starting to expand and the pants without an elastic band need some assistance in staying up since I can't button them anymore! Fortunately I inherited some maternity clothes from a friend, including a Bella Band which helps me continue to wear non-maternity pants for the time being while I build up my inventory of maternity clothes. As a reference, McBaby is now the size of a turnip! 8 more days until we find out if it's a boy or girl!!

I got the results from that blood screening last week, and the results were negative which is a positive thing (math teachers - don't strain yourselves over how negative=positive)! I didn't know what negative meant and the nurse said "don't worry... negative is good!" It reminds me of the episode of the Office when Kevin is waiting for the results of a skin cancer test and he finally gets the call that it's negative. He tells everyone and everyone is happy except Michael Scott who threw down his hockey stick, gave Kevin a big hug and said "we're going to beat this". Then it cuts to an interview of him saying "Well apparently in the medicine community, negative means good. Which makes absolutely no sense. In the real world community, you- that would be chaos." Anyway, no signs of down syndrome or spinal defects based on that screening!