22 Weeks

I think before I was pregnant, I really underestimated just how big my belly would become. When I was wishing for a healthy, viable pregnancy, I'd look through my closet and think about all of the "regular" clothes I thought I'd be able to wear pretty far into a pregnancy. This is one of those shirts (and me, at 22 weeks, 3 days):
Ha! As you can see, I won't be wearing it much longer. In fact, by the time it's really short-sleeve weather, this will be out of the question! I don't really think that I'm that big, but at the same time, I have a hard time imagining the belly as any bigger! The other day as I opened the stall door in the restroom at work, the door brushed against my belly and I had to smile. It just feels so good to have visible evidence that things are going so well with this pregnancy!
I hit another "milestone" this week, too! Earlier in the week, while I was sitting at work, I could feel the baby kicking and punching all over the place. When he does this, I say he's doing his "Turbo Jam" exercises, which is an exercise I did before I got pregnant...kind of a mixture of aerobics and kickboxing, and that has to be what this kid is doing! Anyway, I looked down, and I could see my belly move through my shirt! I laughed out loud and encouraged the baby to keep it up. I loved it! But I think the baby has moved around some and is kicking more toward the inside now. I've asked him nicely to turn around so his daddy can see. So far, he hasn't obliged. :)
A couple of weekends ago, David and I braved Babies R Us for the first time, just to get acclimated to all of this baby stuff that's going to take over our house in a few months. While we were there, we were very excited to find that the bedding we loved was on clearance! We hadn't planned on making any purchases that day, but couldn't pass that up. I'd gotten a nice Visa gift card as my Christmas bonus for work, and with that, we were able to buy our bedding and several accessories and only spent $16 of our own money. Since we're not finding out the baby's gender until he/she arrives, we stuck with something pretty neutral. The bedding is mostly brown, green, and cream, with some stripes of other colors. We love it!
I'm really looking forward to starting on the nursery, especially since we have the bedding. I'm probably going to order the crib here in the next couple of weeks, but I'm having trouble deciding what to do about a changing table. I hate to spend a lot of money on something that's strictly a changing table, so I'm leaning toward one that will also look like a dresser. I think I just need to do a little more research on that one.
We have another appointment with Dr. Basham next week, so we'll get to hear the baby's heart beating again. I don't think I'll have nearly as much anxiety before this appointment, because the baby is pretty good about kicking me throughout the day. I've asked him to kick and punch a lot, just so I know he's okay in there. So far, he's minding! I'm not sure if we'll get anymore ultrasound pictures, but I'm kind of hoping so. I'd like to get a good profile image, but he just wouldn't cooperate at the anatomy scan. I can't believe that after this appointment, I'll only have one more monthly appointment before going every other week! Wow...this is all really happening!

21 Weeks

How far along: 21 weeks!
Weight gain: Still not weighing at home. I'll just wait and see what the damage is in a couple of weeks.
Maternity clothes: Still hanging in there with the pre-pregnancy shirts. You can see that they're getting a little shorter. Seems like every week I have to eliminate one.
Stretch marks: Nope, nothing yet!
Sleep: Still not sleeping great. The body pillow helps, but it's just so stinkin' big!
Best moment of the week/milestones: This week is the first time I've felt baby kick from the outside. What a great feeling! Baby is still hiding from his daddy, though.
Gender guess: I still say it's a boy!
Belly button: Half in, half out.
Cravings: Still wanting to eat sweets, but that's nothing new!
What I miss: I really can't think of anything.
What I'm looking forward to: The day when David feels the baby kick.

20 Weeks

I can hardly believe that I'm at 20 weeks...that's the halfway mark. Baby is half-baked!

How far along: 20 weeks...halfway there!
Weight gain: Not sure. I'm not really weighing myself at home, because I'm afraid I would obsess over it.
Maternity clothes: Of course. I'm still wearing mostly pre-pregnancy shirts, but I'm not sure for how much longer.
Stretch marks: Still nothing. I'm using my stretch mark cream, though, so we'll see how it goes.
Sleep: Ugh. Still not sleeping that well, which is hard for me to adjust to. On a good night, I can get a couple of hours at a stretch. On a bad night, I'm up every hour. I'm just choosing to look at it as practice for June!
Best moment this week: Just being at the 20 week mark. What a great feeling!
Gender guess: I still think it's a boy, but pretty much everyone guesses it's a girl. Somebody's right!
Belly button: The top of it is an outie. Wonder when it will pop?
Cravings: Still nothing, really. I would say sweets, but I just think I really like sweets...can't blame that one on the baby!
What I miss: I can't really think of anything, except longer stretches of sleep.
What I'm looking forward to: Just enjoying the second half of this pregnancy!
Milestones: Being at the halfway point with a healthy baby!

19 Week Update (A Little Late)

Since Blogger's being such a pain tonight, here's a second post with some pictures. We've been trying to take a picture each week, just to see how my belly changes with baby's growth. We've missed a few weeks, but not too many.

14 Weeks (First Belly Picture!)

16 Weeks

17 Weeks

18 Weeks

19 Weeks (My first maternity shirt!)

How Far Along: 19 weeks. We're firmly in the 2nd trimester!

Weight Gain: Somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 pounds total. But we've had Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's, so I'm trying to cut myself some slack. I really try not to think about the fact that I've already gained half of the maximum my doctor reccommends.

Maternity Clothes: Yes! I've been in maternity pants for several weeks now, and they are amazing. As my friend Janetta said, "Where have these pants been our whole lives?!" Most maternity shirts are still a little big in the belly area, but it won't be too long before my "regular" shirts won't cover the bump anymore.

Stretch Marks: Nothing new here. But I did buy some stretch mark cream. It's probably just snake oil, but what the heck...it's worth a try to try to fend them off for as long as possible. I figure they're inevitable though.

Sleep: This is pretty much the first time in my life that I'm not sleeping great. It's no longer comfortable to sleep on my belly, and everything I read says that sleeping on my back is not an option. I've been trying to sleep on my side, but I hate it. I did finally break down and buy a body pillow, and it has helped to keep me on my side at night, but it's ginormous. It takes up way too much of the bed.

Best Moment This Week: Seeing our little one on the ultrasound and getting a great report on the anatomy scan. Baby looks great! S/he had hiccups, and we were able to see him/her open and close his/her mouth. We're choosing not to find out the gender so that we'll be surprised at delivery!

Gender Guess: I've decided that I think it's a boy. We've always called baby "him," but I just have a gut feeling it's a boy. We'll have to wait and see!

Belly Button: Getting more shallow by the day, it seems. I guess before long I'll have an outie!

Cravings: Still no real cravings. I've noticed that baby moves more after I drink some juice, or eat something sweet, so I have to do that every day to get him worked up! :)

What I Miss: Nothing, really. Well, maybe the times when I could effortlessly bend at the waist to put on my socks, but that's no big deal. Carrying this little miracle is definitely worth some trouble bending!

What I'm Looking Forward To: Feeling some stronger kicks and punches, and getting started on putting the nursery together.

Milestones: Since the last time I updated, there've been several! Feeling movement, wearing a maternity shirt, and our anatomy scan!

19 Weeks

I can't really believe it's been 6 weeks since I last posted anything here. I'm now in mid-2nd trimester, I suppose, and things are going well. David asked me last night if I'd done anything with the "baby blog" lately, and I had to tell him that I hadn't. I haven't really thought about why I haven't posted in a while, but I think it's because I felt like there really wasn't anything to report. I was talking with a friend last night (who has also been through miscarriage), and we were talking about the anxiety that accompanies a pregnancy after a loss. I realized that even though that first trimester is terrifying, I felt some reassurance every time I felt nauseous. I think that as long as I felt the nausea (and other pregnancy symptoms), everything was okay. But then I got into my second trimester (the "honeymoon" trimester, they say), and as is to be expected, most of those symptoms went away. I no longer gagged every time I brushed my teeth, etc. But at the same time, I didn't have anything reassuring me that baby was still healthy inside me. That's what was terrifying. I didn't have a "baby bump," I couldn't feel any movement, etc. We did have two appointments that let us hear the baby's heartbeat, but in between those appointments I was a nervous wreck.

Right before Christmas, I was talking with a group of friends who've all had babies. They all wanted to know if I'd felt any movement yet...and I hadn't. Of course that made me nervous. They all did a great job of reassuring me that I would soon, and they told me to pay attention to things that felt like "flutters." I never felt anything like fluttering, but I did occassionally feel something that felt like bubbles bursting or popcorn popping. At one of my appointments, I asked my OB about it, and she said, "That's it! That's quickening!" I felt so relieved...I now had a way to know that our little one was still okay in there. That held me over for an additional two weeks, until my 19 week ultrasound and anatomy scan, which was yesterday.

I won't lie...I wasn't really looking forward to the appointment. It's not that I wasn't excited to see our baby...I was! I was just terrified that the ultrasound would show some kind of birth defect. I felt so much anxiety for about a week up to the appointment that I was miserable. Yesterday morning, as I sat in my car, I just cried before going into the office. As I started to pray, it became abundantly clear to me that Satan had been preying on my biggest fears over the last week. I had absolutely no reason to believe that anything was wrong with our baby, and I knew that even if our little one had a birth defect, that this was the baby that God has given us, and we would love him or her unconditionally anyway. After my conversation with God, I felt incredibly at peace, wiped off my tears, and went confidently into the office to wait for David. Luckily we didn't have a long wait at the office (I was the first appointment!), so there wasn't much time to get worked up again. Marta, the ultrasound tech, was wonderful and worked for about 30 - 40 minutes to get all of the images she needed. And our baby looks perfect! We came away with images of baby's face, hands, and feet, and of course, they're precious! :) Baby is measuring right on schedule, and all of his/her organs look perfect. We saw a strong heart beating at 153 beats per minute, and we were reassured that everything is going very well. What relief! I feel like I can finally start to breathe. I have tried from the beginning to be optimistic about this pregnancy. My motto has been, "I'm going to enjoy this for as long as it lasts, whether that's for a few days, or 9 months." But now, I'm excited as I can be. I'm ready to research cribs, car seats, and other baby gear so that we can keep this little one safe and happy after he/she gets here.

I've been fighting with Blogger for about 15 minutes to load some pictures, and I'm about to give up. I guess I'm going to make another post just with pictures, since I'm having some technical difficulties!