21 Weeks

{Baby Alex is now around 11 inches long (as long as a large carrot) and weighs about 3/4 lbs.}

Another week has come and gone. Nothing super new and exciting except the ultrasound, which I've already written about.

Movement is still just slight and barely noticeable, although I have noticed that he loves to hang out in one certain position a lot, with his little foot jammed right up against the top of my right ribs. Occasionally, like last night, I can feel his head being pushed up against my left side. Jeremy just looked at me last night and asked, "Is that the head??" because I had this little lump jutting out from my left side making me look lopsided.

Considering how active he always is, it's a wonder I'm not feeling much movement yet! They say this is the month where I should really start feeling it. So for now I just get to feel a subtle movement here and there, and have a foot jammed in my ribs. I won't complain though, it's nice knowing something's going on in there!

Just for an idea of the size of baby, here's a babycenter.com pic of 21 weeks. Now imagine this is Jeremy's baby so he's probably twice as big! Okay, maybe not twice as big, but probably bigger than this! I know my belly is much bigger than this picture's!


I laugh because on the "21 Weeks Review" at babycenter it says, "You're probably feeling pretty comfortable these days." It makes me wonder... Who the heck is writing these articles, and have they never been pregnant before?!

Moving on to Week 22!

It's a BOY!!

I knew it! I've been telling everyone since day one that this is a boy, I knew it!

The ultrasound went really well. He was so fun to watch squirm and wiggle, and flip and somersault, wave, suck his thumb, and show off. And I mean SHOW OFF! At one point the ultrasound technician said, "Okay, that's enough! I don't want to see your pee pee no more! Yes, we know you're a boy!" It was really funny, every time she would move the ultrasound tool to try and look at something else, he would flip and turn and rotate so that he would be on display again. He wanted to make good and sure he didn't come home to a pink bedroom!

He's measuring in at 12 ounces, when the average 20 weeks along baby weighs 10 ounces. And he's looking mighty long as well. So he's going to be a big boy!

One of my favorite parts was when he pressed his little foot right up against the ultrasound tool, and we got to see each and every teeny tiny little toe in detail. So stinkin' adorable!!

I got the ultrasound results back the next day (which was super fast! they told me 2-3 weeks!) and everything is perfect. Everything has formed/is forming exactly as it should, all the measurements are perfect, nothing to give them any concern. So that's awesome!

She wasn't able to print out any pictures for some reason, but they gave me a CD with every picture that she took. We were pretty excited to come home and post pictures until we actually got home and realized our computer won't open it up. At all. Boo! So if we ever figure out a way to open them, I'll post pics then :)

New official due date: September 10, 2011

5 month belly pic

20 WEEKS BABY!!!
{We're measuring in at 10.5 inches long , about the length of a banana, and about 10.5 oz now. Not quite a pound, but getting there!)

(I'm really starting to want to not do any more of these monthly belly pics. I'm starting to look like a snowman and it's killing my self esteem!)


20 Weeks down and 20 to go! And boy do I feel big. I swear there were about 2 or 3 nights this past week where I doubled in size (at least it felt like it). All of a sudden I'm 10 times more uncomfortable and my belly feels twice as heavy... if that makes any sense. Rather than say..a big balloon filled with air in my belly, it's now a big balloon filled with water. Just...heavy.

But it is so fun to feel the movements. They're far and few in between, but when I do feel them, it's so fun! I'm really excited for Monday's appointment to find out the gender and see this little baby move around in there! Cross your fingers for me that he/she isn't shy and is willing to show it all!

This is a 20 week 3D I found online. So darn cute! It's still crazy to me to think that that's what's really in my belly!


Fun Fact: His/her eyelashes and eyebrows are have started to appear. And his/her little lips are fully formed, helping him/her to suck his/her thumb. His/her arms and legs are now in proportion with the rest of his/her body, and on Monday, these posts will no longer say "His/Her" because we will have a definite (hopefully!) answer as to just who exactly is in there!

19 Weeks

{Our baby is now the size of a large heirloom tomato. 6 inches long and 8 1/2 oz. Though I don't know that I've ever seen a 6 inch long tomato. Hm. The 6 inches only measures from head to bum, next week they officially begin measuring from head to heel, so technically as of this moment all nice and stretched out, our little jellybean is about 10 inches long.}

So I've just wrapped up week 19 and am heading into week 20. And to week 19, all I have to say is, "Doom! Doom on You!" Week 19 was painful! I was ever so rudely teased with the "Your sciatic pain is over and done with, we're moving on!" Not so. It is still very much here, and very very painful! Boo. And cue the lower back aches and the *drum roll* charlie horses. I have to say, those charlie horses are a NIGHTMARE! I get them first thing in the morning when I wake up and stretch. Even just flexing my feet will bring one on. I am Jeremy's new alarm clock. He now wakes up to "Ow Ow OW OW OW OW OWWW!!!" with my leg up in the air and a bulging spasming muscle sticking a foot out from my calf. Worst Pain EVER! It must freak him out because he is front and center within half a second rubbing it out for me. And then we go back to sleep. Fun times.

I'm starting to feel the baby more and more, it's just whispery hints that he/she's there, but I can feel it! So that's fun.

Let's complain some more. Heartburn is awful! I can get through about 45 seconds of eating something before heartburn rears it's ugly head and takes over. You would think this would make me want to stop eating, or eat less. Um...no. I could probably put away an entire large pizza if Jeremy weren't there to stop me! Oh the wonders of pregnancy!

Only 9 more days til we find out if we're having baby Alex, or ...*sigh* Princess Cat. Yes, Courtney thinks she is in charge.

*Something fun going on right now: Our baby is no longer a baldy. He/she is now sprouting hair on that little head :)

18 Weeks

{Our little munchkin is now the size of a bell pepper. 5 1/2 inches long from head to bum and weighing in at almost 7 ounces. (More than half a pound)

The dreaded blood drawing appointment came and went without any drama. I know, I'm more shocked than you! My good friend, Cecily, has experience actually being the one to draw blood, so she gave me some pointers. Lots of water, heart rate pumping, and a relaxing song on my ipod. I totally clung to every bit of advice she gave me and plugged into my ipod before the needle even came out. I laid back, closed my eyes, and focused on my song. I felt one tiny prick in my right arm, and then a few seconds later a tiny prick in my left arm. I never flinched, grimaced, opened my eyes, or uttered a single sound. My song wasn't even half way over when Jeremy was taking my ipod away telling me to sit up. Apparently I was done and didn't even know it. (And wasn't even aware that the nurse had been trying to get me to sit up for quite some time!) The vein in my right arm had collapsed so they moved to the left. Thank goodness for Cecily's advice to help me zone out, because I can guarantee this little adventure would have been just as bad, if not worse than the last time they tried drawing my blood. And believe me, it would be mighty hard to top the 'worseness' of that last time! It's 5 days later and my arm is still purple, black, and green. At least I have something to show for it :)

Something super fantastic? My horrific sciatic pain has gone on a scale of 1-10 from a 32 to about 3. Hallelujah! My doctor says it's because the baby has finally decided that due to his/her rapid growing, that it was time to move. Off my sciatic nerve. *sigh* ah, relief. Although now my lungs are getting squished making it difficult to breathe at times.

I am still holding firmly to the belief that this is a boy. I don't remember Courtney ever making me this uncomfortable 24/7! It must be a boy to be causing me all this trouble, right? We scheduled our ultrasound for April 25 to find out the gender, and I've got to say, this should be the best appointment ever! No blood, no needles, no naked, (well, no naked for me, we're totally checking out the naked on this little baby!!) the only thing I'm not looking forward to is the drinking all the water before the appointment and not being allowed to go to the bathroom til after the ultrasound!

But anyhow, the doctor is always super excited to do the heartbeat. She keeps saying how strong and healthy it is. When she checked the heartbeat at the last appointment, she had to keep moving around, because this little acrobat in there was flipping and rolling and twirling and twisting like crazy! So far as is going perfect :)

Something fun this week: Our baby should be able to hear our voices this week. Courtney loves kissing my belly and talking to the baby. At least he/she will have lots to hear while in there!

17 Weeks

{Our baby is now the size of a turnip. About five inches long, and weighing in at 5 ounces. Feeling like it's weighing in as the size of a baby hippopotamus.}

Oy. Is all I have to say. For being so little, this baby sure is going out of his/her way to make me uncomfortable! They say you start feeling movement between 16 and 22 weeks. I'm starting week 18 and every now and then I think I feel something. I'm really excited to start feeling solid obvious movements. I still haven't bought anything for the baby, and without any real obvious movements, and not really having seen the baby (our first visit ultrasound just looked like a fuzzy white jellybean), it just doesn't seem 100% real. Of course I know it's real, but I just want something obvious to make it seem 'more' real, if that makes any sense. I'm so super excited for our ultrasound visit in 3 weeks to find out the gender and to finally be able to SEE this little one that has taken up residency.

Here's a 3D ultrasound image of a baby at 16 weeks, and I'm starting week 18, so we should be very similar, if not more developed. Seeing stuff like this completely tugs at my heart to know that's what my baby looks like. Rather than just having a big uncomfortable belly with nothing to show for it, I can look at this this and think, "Aww... that's what he/she looks like!"


Today is Saturday, and my next visit on Monday. Where they will draw my blood. I'm trying not to freak out to finally be able to get over this fear. I think I might almost be getting there. Talking about it doesn't make me want to throw up on site anymore. I can actually think about it and stay calm. So that's improvement. We'll see how the actual appointment goes, though!