Baby Update

I'm 19 weeks along now and almost at the 1/2 way point (20 weeks). Next Friday, on Jan 11, we're having the gender ultrasound done in the morning. I cannot wait to find out. My intuition is suggesting it's a boy right now. At first I was convinced we were having another girl, but now I'm not so sure.

The baby is about 8.5 ounces now and 6 inches long. It can hear and distinguish between sounds/noises and voices. How exciting to know.

I haven't felt any flutters yet, but I'm pretty sure I have felt a few faint kicks in the evening for the past couple of nights.

Shedding the sea bands.

For the past 10 weeks I've been wearing 2 very unattractive grey elastic bands around my wrists. They kind of looked like exercise sweat bands, but a bit thinner.

I've been afraid to take them off, but last night I forgot to put them back on after giving Sophia a bath and I didn't remember to put them on this morning either and I made it through the whole day without feeling ill at all. Hip hip hooray! Let's hope this is a new trend! Literally up through the weekend I was feeling sick.

Doctor's Appointment

I had my 16 week appointment this morning. I got to hear the heart beat again. This time it was 154. The doc said everything sounded good. I gave a vial of blood to be tested for the quad-screen and will find out the results at the next appointment. Speaking of the next appointment - it will be the 1/2 way point. The 20 week ultrasound where we can find out the baby's sex! Can't wait. January 11.

I felt some movement

For the past few days when I'm sitting down in the evenings I swear I've felt some movement from the underbelly. It's taken me about 3 days to convince myself that I AM feeling something. Tonight's little wormy movement sealed the deal. I'm 15 weeks along now. With Sophia I was 18 weeks pregnant before I felt anything.

I go to visit the doctor on Tuesday morning. This will be another boring visit when I only get to hear the heartbeat. Next month's appointment will be the exciting one. We'll have an ultrasound and find out if it's a boy or a girl. Will is definite on finding out and I'm on the fence (just like last time). However, I haven't been able to even think about names yet! I keep telling myself that after I know the sex I'll be more psyched about spending hours searching through name books and online for that single elusive name that jumps out from the rest.

NT Scan

We got the results back from our ultrasound and NT scan and all of my numbers came back in the "normal" range. That's great news, but it's not like we expected to hear anything different. It's still very comforting to hear that your baby is very unlikely to have chromosomal abnormalities. 1 in 250 is considered risky. Our numbers were 1 in 2700 for down syndrome and 1 in 8300 for Edwards disease.

The "honeymoon" trimester

I made it! The second trimester is officially beginning and I'm 4 months pregnant. Some call this the honeymoon trimester because the hormones have supposedly settled down and the woman's body has adjusted to the pregnancy and is able to just enjoy for the next few months until shortness of breath and being uncomfortable settle in for the final few months. Um....for me it's not the case yet. I still feel nauseus when I take off my sea bands for longer than a 1/2 hour. If I don't sleep with them on then I wake up feeling sick.

Other than that - I'm showing. 2 people have commented so far that they can see a baby bump! That's cool.

Cravings: Watermelon! Watermelon! Watermelon! An expensive craving for this time of year.

Itty Bitty Baby

I had an ultrasound on Wednesday evening and the little baby was really active. It was so comforting to see the baby's legs moving around and to watch the hands move up towards to the face, almost as if the baby wanted to suck it's thumb. All of this and it's only about 2.5 inches long at this point.

Sophia saw the baby in the tv monitor right away and kept repeating "Baby" over and over to the technician and the nurse in the room. All of us were shocked that she could identify the baby on the ultrasound. Will claims that this baby looks exactly like him too! (But I think Sophia is looking more like me these days)....

We asked if they could tell us the sex of the baby, but they said it was too early to tell. We'll have to wait until the next routine ultrasound - given around 20 weeks.

I also had a doctor's appointment this week and got to hear the baby's heartrate again. It was 165 bpm this time. Last time it was 150 bpm. I have gained 1 pound so far.

The picture below is a 3D image and the baby is facing and saluting the camera. Can you see it? :-)