Bump Watch 20 weeks

How far along: 20 weeks
Baby is the size of a: banana (about 10 inches)
Gender:  Boy
Total weight gain/loss: ~10 pounds
Maternity clothes: Fo' Sho'
Sleep: I've gotten into a good schedule of sleeping pretty good and getting up to pee once (on a good night) or twice (on a normal night).
Best moment this week: This was a good week! I turned 27. The baby was healthy at its ultrasound and we were really happy to find out it's a boy. I'm not happy about some things that have happened since then, but we wanted a boy and I had thought it was a boy, so we were happy to find out it's a boy. Also, I had to present a poster for work today (yes, on a Saturday) and it won first place.
Food cravings: Grapefruit. I even had grapefruit cupcakes for my birthday. 
Food aversions: Still chocolate. I apparently can't digest leafy greens anymore. And Indian food does not taste right.
Movement: Pretty sure I had a dance party in my uterus this morning.
Symptoms: I definitely feel pregnant. My center of gravity has changed and some things are starting to feel harder.
Labor Signs: Nope
Stretch Marks: Maybe one weird looking one on my left love handle.
Swelling: Sometimes in my hands.
Belly Button in or out: In
What I miss: Now that I'm on pelvic rest, I suddenly miss Seth.
What I am looking forward to: I'm mostly looking forward to holding the baby.
Milestones: We reached the halfway point!


Photo Comparison:

More kind words

I had sort of a crappy day. It was really close to involving one of those ugly pregnancy cries. Mostly work related. But I was also not happy about my placenta situation. The doctor's office called me this morning and told me I couldn't walk or swim anymore and that I should take it easy until my next ultrasound (October 10th). So I was bummed about that.

But then Seth took me to Chocolate Moose and I had homemade pumpkin ice cream with caramel syrup, which was delicious and made me feel a little better. Then I went to bell choir practice and one of the ladies who also plays said something really incredibly nice. She said that Seth and I are the type of people who should have kids. Which is just a really nice thing to say. And made me feel better.

Also, the woman working the register at the Union asked me what I was having. And a fellow labmate mentioned that she thought my bump had really popped as well. So it's cool that I'm really looking pregnant. I like having a bump to hold. It makes me really look forward to holding our baby.

And, I got an unexpected birthday card in the mail from one of Seth's relatives. It also had kind words for me and little Madren. 

So, even though I was in sort of a crappy mood all day and sort of let things stress me out more than necessary, it ended up being not so bad.

Ultrasound!

Happy birthday to me! What better way to celebrate turning 27 than having the "big" ultrasound?

Let me just say right off the bat that it was awesome.

We saw the baby's four little heart chambers beating and all its bones looked good. All its measurements were good. Heartbeat still good and beating at 160 beats per minute. And it has the cutest little baby feet. And it even rubbed its eyes which was really adorable.

But, apparently our kid is a little ham because it was staring and grinning at the ultrasound the whole time so we just kept seeing this gigantic skull face everywhere.

A little creepy looking, actually. And it was way clearer on the screen than in the printout we got. I'm sure it will be cute when it comes out though. Or at least hopefully shortly after...

Also, we did figure out the sex. We told the technician not to tell us, but not to necessarily hide it and if we figured it out, then we figured it out, but if we didn't, don't tell us. The first thing we saw was the butt shot, so we figured it out. But we're not telling anyone.

The only bad thing is that I am now on pelvic rest due to the location of my placenta. It is currently located right next to my cervix (not covering it at all) and is considered marginal placenta previa. Apparently it's pretty common for it to be located low at this stage and it will hopefully correct itself and move up as my uterus grows. I will have to have it checked again in a few weeks. Most (I think around 90%) marginal cases at 20 weeks will be corrected by around 28 weeks. If it remains too close to the cervix, I'll have to have a c-section. So think positive placenta thoughts!

Popped

I walked into our Bradley class tonight and our teacher exclaimed, "Wow! You've really popped this week!"

That's good because I am definitely feeling more pregnant this week.

And I am SO. EXCITED. for our ultrasound tomorrow.

Bump Watch 19 Weeks

I didn't crop it so you could see how close my puppy shadow is to me all the time.

How far along: 19 weeks
Baby is the size of a: large heirloom tomato (6 inches)
News: Ultrasound on Wednesday! Heartbeat sounded good at our doctor's appointment this week. Everything still going fine. I'm even feeling a bit better.

LLL

Part of our Bradley Method classes is to attend a La Leche League meeting. So I went to one tonight. The topic was gentle discipline, which I'm not 100% sure we really spent that much time on. But I'm really glad I went. I feel like I may have made a mom friend. A woman named Liz who is 14 weeks pregnant with her second kid. Some things were a little too hippy dippy for me, but I expected that. But overall I feel like LLL will be a fantastic resource and I'm looking forward to going to more meetings.

Voices

So we're pretty close to the baby being able to hear in there, so Seth has started reading to it for a couple minutes a day. He picked "the only children's book in the house".... Harry Potter. Our baby will know Seth's voice and have excellent taste in literature. :)