24 Weeks

Tomorrow I am 24 weeks!  Time is really starting to go quickly.  At my doctor's appointment today, she informed me that this is the last time I will visit monthly.  March 21st begins my bi-weekly appointments!  Wow!  Hard to believe it's starting to come so quickly.  And I only have 3 weeks left until I'm in my 3rd trimester.  His heartrate today was in the lower 160's again.  She said, "Boy, he's REALLY active!"  In which I replied, "Tell me about it."  :P  He is VERY active!  I'm actually sitting here right now watching my belly move like crazy.  Kyle loves to feel him move.  The doctor said my placenta is at the back, which is why I will feel him move a lot.  She said everything looked great and right on target.  They were finally happy that I've started gaining some weight!  I'm still 4 pounds under where I started, but I'm almost there and they're so glad!  And my belly button is starting to poke out, haha! 

He's still the size of a papaya, but only for the rest of the week.  Then we move up to eggplant!

 

His skin is finally starting not to be so transparent.  He's finally getting some fat on him, so now you can't see his insides as easily.  Speaking of weight, he gains about 6 oz. a week now!  His face is almost fully formed, with eyelashes and eyebrows.  And any hair he has is white for the moment - there's no pigmentation quite yet.

As for me (which isn't nearly as interesting), I'm actually feeling pretty great!  My ribs feel a little bruised, which she said is totally normal from all the growing and expanding that's going on.  I also have tingliness/numbness around my ribs, ankles, and hands, which she said is also normal because he's just hitting on nerves.  I am now to the point where I can no longer put on socks or shave my legs without bending my body in awkward positions to try to get it done.  Some days I even have Kyle put on my socks! :P  The nausea comes and goes, but I finally have pills that work almost instantaneously.  I'm not able to eat a whole lot, and if I do I totally regret it.  There's just not much room for food!  Probably another reason I haven't really put on much weight.  Although, my belly is getting very large.  I had someone come up to me over the weekend and they were shocked I'm only 24 weeks.  She said, "Wow!  That's all?!?!  You look much further along than that!  Your belly is so big!  You're going to be huge by time that baby arrives!"  Yes.  I feel gargantuan already.  I feel like I get so much bigger each and every week, which is true.  Can't wait to see what I look like in April and May, haha!  I have to do my glucose tolerance test and be checked for low iron in 3 weeks.  Not quite looking forward to that, but whatever.  :P

The nursery is starting to SLOWLY take shape.  The glider and ottoman are all set up, we have a lamp, and I bought some CUTE framed pictures at Hobby Lobby on Thursday!  I got both of them for $22.50 total.  One is of an elephant (our theme for the room) and the other has a baby carriage with "Babies are a blessing from God" on it.  Too cute!  Can't wait until we have a few more things in there so I can post some pics.  The registries are complete (I think...no really...for real this time).  We are registered at Babies 'R Us and Pottery Barn Kids.

I will check back in soon!

22 Weeks

Today was our ultrasound!  He is so stinkin' cute!  I was sooooo glad.  And everything looked perfectly healthy and good (I had fears ALL week that something would be wrong with him).  Measurements are a day/two days ahead of schedule, so due date is June 14th!  That was my original due date at the very beginning.  Not that an exact date means anything at all, because he'll come when he wants to.  :P 

Heart beat was 164 per minute!  Still going nice and strong!  No cleft pallet lips, no underdeveloped organs, no small limbs...he's perfect!  And I think he's so cute.  If you've read my previous posts, you'll know that I mentioned my biggest fear is an ugly baby.  Seriously.  Some babies are just not cute.  When I first saw the ultrasound I thought he definitely looked like Kyle!  But as I look at them more, I can see more of each of us.  I think I would feel better if he looked more like Kyle.  I think he's the better-lookin' of us.  ;)  But he actually looks like he's gonna be a cute kid, so I'm excited!  I could tell my niece was gonna be cute by her ultrasound pics, so I'm glad that it looks like we're on the same track. 

The absolute CUTEST thing was when he would yawn!  It was soooo awesome to see him do that!  Oh my gosh, he did it twice, but I wanted him to keep doing it over and over again!

Speaking of "him", we've started to refer to "him" as "HLR."  That's because we think we have it narrowed down to 3 names:  Hudson, Lincoln, and Rowan.  We keep throwing out new names, but we haven't had a new one added in a couple months now.  So it's lookin' like these are the final 3!  We will know the final name once he's born!  No naming until we see him.  :)

HLR is the size of a papaya this week!  He will stay roughly this size for the next 3 weeks.  He also weighs (according to ultrasound) 1.1 pounds!  His face is fully formed by now.  He can also hear things from outside my body (my voice, Kyle's voice, Dixie barking, music, etc.).  He's sleeping about 12-14 hours a day (that's where all that yawning came from! :P). 

Ok, enough of all the chatter...here are the pics!  And if you're not used to 3D ultrasound pics, you have to learn to look past the alien-like ways they look.  :P

21 Weeks

I'm ready for this to be over.  I'm just bored, I think.  I'm ready to have a little guy to hang out with and take care of.  I'm ready to see my feet again.  I'm ready to be able to turn in bed without using a whole process.  I'm ready to lay on my back and stomach again.  I'm ready to go all out at the gym (I'm doing as much as I can, but it's not what I'm used to and it's driving me crazy).  I'm ready to bend over and put socks on.  I'm ready to have joints that don't ache.  I'm ready to go for a jog through the neighborhood in shorts and a t-shirt.  I'm ready to be able to stand on my feet for more than 15 minutes without having to sit down.  I'm ready to have ankles and feet and hands that aren't swollen.  I'm ready to just feel like myself again.  *Sigh*  Only a little less than 4.5 months! 

Here are some recent picks of my ever-expanding belly!





The baby is the size (this week we start measuring head to toe!  Oh, that's exciting!) of a large banana this week!  And after holding up a large banana to my belly on Monday, yep, that's about right!  Actually, it's kinda sad because this is the last week that has a fruit for the week.  Starting next week, the baby will be roughly the same size for the next 3, then we go to a monthly fruit.  So that means right now he's about 10.5"  from head to toe.  He weighs about 13 oz. 

Right now he's about his movements are getting more intense.  We can feel him from the outside now and you can actually SEE him moving if you watch my belly!  It's just crazy.  Kyle just loves, loves, loves it!  This week he can also start to actually taste everything I eat.  I bet he likes bananas!  I've been eating tons of those.  That and peanut butter.  And cereal (everything from Cheerios to Cocoa Pebbles to Raisin Bran). 

I also have 4 showers scheduled at this point, and I believe another one is in the works.  They all start the first weekend in April.  First is the Marion shower with family friends and high school friends.  That one is at the Palace.  I'm super-pumped.  It sounds like it will be one of my biggest showers, so that part makes me slightly nervous.  I get very anxious in large crowds.  :P  I have one hosted by my husband's family in mid-April.  Then there's one in Michigan with all of my family the first weekend in May.  Then there's a small one with close college friends the end of April.  Whew.  I'm going to be worn out!  But hopefully that will make the last trimester go fairly quickly.  Stick cheer tryouts and Easter in there and I won't know where the time went!

I go for my 22-week ultrasound on Monday!  I'm super-excited about that.  Be expecting pictures Monday night!  One last note...I NEED SPRING.  Desperately.  Being stuck at home the past 2 days and being stuck at home again tomorrow is starting to drive me stir-crazy.  I'm about to lose my mind!  At least Buckeye Chuck didn't see his shadow...spring next week?  Right?  Maybe?  Oh, please send sunshine and warm weather if you've got it...