Baby is about 2 1/2 pounds and over 15 inches long now. Muscles and lungs are continuing to form, and he is putting on more fat. That translates into more energy, which I am definitely feeling. Not only is he kicking up a storm, but I also feel him flop around and stretch now too, which is a really strange feeling and a tad uncomfortable. I also felt my first foot (or hand?) all the way up in my ribs at my doctor appointment on Friday. That was a strange feeling. I pushed back on him and he moved out of the way. But he’s done it a few more times since then. I guess I should get used to it.
Mama is feeling large and uncomfortable. Did I mention I still have 11 weeks to go? I can’t imagine how much bigger and more uncomfortable I’m going to get. I’m up 2 lbs this week for a total weight gain now of 17 lbs. My belly button is officially an outie. My stomach muscles are feeling really stretched, as I mentioned last week. I just feel really achy. I had a prenatal massage on Sunday, which was heavenly. I’m definitely going to book a couple more before baby gets here. I still have sciatic pain, so it didn’t magically erase that, but it felt great anyway, and maybe the sciatic pain is something that would get better after a couple more sessions?
I had my glucose tolerance test on Friday, which wasn’t nearly as bad as I had heard it would be. I felt a little sleepy afterward and had a tiny bit of a headache, but it was honestly nothing I would have even noticed if I hadn’t been expecting to feel awful. And the great news is, I passed! No gestational diabetes for me!
In other news, I finished the nursery! I’m really happy with how it turned out. Now all we need is a name above the crib (which would actually require deciding on a name… ugh.)
We had our first baby shower on Sunday, which was a lot of fun. It was for family, and we had about 15 people at my house. We got a lot of really great stuff, including our crib and mattress from my parents, and our car seat from D’s dad and step mom. Feels nice to have some of the big ticket items checked off our list. We also got a lot of diapers, including six cloth diapers, so we are on our way to building up our cloth diaper supply! I really want to do cloth diapers for when we’re at home, at least. Our daycare will only take disposables, but the preschool/daycare we’re going to transfer him to once he reaches a year of age will take cloth diapers, so then we can be in them full time. Better for the environment, more cost-effective in the long-run (though pricey to build up your stash initially) – and plus, look how cute?! It really was a fun day and I know my mom put a lot of work into throwing the shower. That was probably the last time we’ll see my parents until after the baby’s born, so it was sad to see them leave at the end of the day.
Okay, here’s what’s happening with baby and me at 28 weeks…
Baby is now about 2.5 lbs and 16 inches long – or as one pregnancy blog puts it: about the size of a chihuahua. Crazy to think he still needs to gain about 4-6 lbs. Where is he going to fit?
Mama is stuffed to the max (side note, did you know the slang for pregnant in England is “stuffed?”). Still no stretch marks, thankfully, but my ab muscles ache every time I eat. I’m clearly running out of room for baby and all my organs, so adding any volume in the way of food just makes my body ache. Does that mean I eat less? Nah. I just complain about it more after I do. Weight gain for the week is .4 lbs. for a total now of 15 lbs. even. I know I’m doing well with my weight gain, but I still feel huge. I also think it’s starting to show in my face now, after seeing pictures from my baby shower. 😦
Sciatic pain is still there, but possibly less now than it was. I think the combination of sitting on an exercise ball at work and sleeping on a new mattress have helped things some. I was supposed to get a massage on Sunday morning, but that didn’t happen. I went through the entire process of checking into the spa, changing into my robe, and was sitting in the little waiting area feeling all zen like, when the receptionist came back to me and said she was sorry but my massage therapist just called and had a family emergency and wouldn’t be coming in today. Unfortunately, they had no one else that does prenatal massages, so they would have to reschedule. Uh… glad they told me this after I was already in my freaking robe?? They were super apologetic and said that they’d comp my massage and even upgrade me to a 90 minute, but still… I was really looking forward to that massage on Sunday! Super disappointing. So now they are trying to figure out when to get me in, since apparently that particular massage therapist won’t be working for them anymore. “Family emergency,” huh?
Speaking of family emergencies, I also got a call from my doctor’s office yesterday that my OB had a family emergency and won’t be back at work until April! I’m guessing this is a real emergency and I’m sad for her, as I can only imagine what sort of event would cause someone to take a whole two months off. 😦 So I’ll see either her nurse practitioner or another doctor in the practice for my next 4 appointments. This actually isn’t all bad, since I’ll be delivered by whoever is on call anyway, so it’s probably good that I meet some other doctors in her practice. I am a bit sad, though, as I really liked that doctor and I feel bad for whatever she must be going through right now. At least my pregnancy is going smoothly and I’m not too worried about anything in particular, otherwise I think I’d be freaking out right about now. And she should be back for my final month of pregnancy.
That’s about all that’s going on at the moment! Here’s a picture of D and me before the baby shower on Sunday, at exactly 28 weeks, in front of our new crib! Also a sneak peek at the nursery, which I am still planning to write a post on one of these days. I still need to make a crib skirt and get a rug to tie the room together, and then we should be pretty much done!
A couple nights ago I had a dream that I went in for my 28 week appointment and our baby no longer had a heartbeat. It was devastating, to have to relive our loss all over again, only this time having to break the news to everyone. In my dream, I was in some sort of a school, and in each classroom were people from different areas of my life (family, college friends, people from work, etc.), and I remember just being numb as I had to go to each room and announce that we were no longer pregnant (in my dream, I had already had a D&C again by the time I told everyone, which is odd, since if I were to lose this baby now, I’d actually have to give birth this late in the game). In my dream, dealing with everyone else’s grief was one of the worst parts about the whole experience. Everyone cried and demanded to know why it had happened, and I had no answers. All I wanted to do was run away from everyone so I could actually address my own grief without feeling like I had to take care of everyone else’s feelings. I woke up and had that weird half-still-in-my-dream moment where I wasn’t sure if it had all been real or a dream. I felt the baby move, realized it had all been a dream, and then I just started sobbing. Even after I was fully awake and well-aware it wasn’t real, I just couldn’t stop crying.
On a lighter note, I had a very productive weekend working on the nursery. I bought some pegboard and painted it with a chevron pattern and hung that above the changing table, and I finished the crib mobile I started a few weeks ago. I also painted a canvas to hang on the wall with some song lyrics I love and started a few other DIY things that I’ll give an update on later. I was feeling super crafty and productive this weekend. Pretty much all we need now is a crib and a rug (and a baby, of course!). I know I keep saying this, but one of these days I am going to get around to doing a post on the nursery decor. I really am happy about how it’s coming together!
Okay, so here’s what’s happening with baby and me at 27 weeks…
Baby is about 2 lbs. and 15 inches long now. That’s almost as long as a full-term baby – now he just needs to beef up! His eyelids can now open and close (they had been fused shut since about 11 or 12 weeks), and he has all five senses developed. I’ve even read he can start developing preferences on taste, as my amniotic fluid (which he is constantly swallowing) will taste different depending on what I eat that day. Baby is is kicking up a storm and I’m still loving it. I read that now is when kicks can start getting painful, but so far they aren’t (knock on wood), though I wouln’t say they’re subtle anymore either! I wonder how much the non-painful kicking has to do with my anterior placenta. Next appointment is Friday the 15th, where I’ll take my Gestational Diabetes test. Let’s hope all the sweets I’ve been craving (and giving into) lately haven’t sent me into a diabetic state!
Mama is officially in the third trimester now! Crazy how fast time seems to be moving. The first trimester dragged on forever, but the second feels like it just flew by, and suddenly I am in the third. Wow! Countdown to baby is now just 90 days. And we still don’t have a name, thanks to D’s indecisiveness. I actually have one that I love but D didn’t initially like. We came up with about 5 others that we would both be okay with, but every time I try to talk to D about which ones I like more than others, hoping to narrow it down further, he freezes up and says he can’t make a decision, and that none of them really feel like “the one” to him. Though he did say that the one I liked most (that he initially wasn’t crazy about) might have “a slight advantage over the others” since I like it so much. I’m trying not to push him too hard to go with that name since he originally didn’t like it, but secretly I’m hoping it continues to grow on him. But honestly, I’d really be okay with any of the names we’ve narrowed it down to. I am just ready to make a decision already – or at least feel like we’re moving towards a decision. At this rate, we’ll be deciding in the hospital. Oh well — at least this way I can easily skirt the name question since we honestly don’t know. We don’t plan on sharing with anyone until after he’s here, anyway.
I’m still dealing with some pretty bad sciatic pain. Honestly, that has been my only major complaint this pregnancy. I haven’t gained too much weight (1.4 lbs this week for a total so far of 14.6 lbs.), I still have quite a bit of energy, no swelling, no stretch marks. Really, if it weren’t for this darn sciatic pain and a large belly, I’d hardly even notice that I was pregnant. I started sitting on an exercise ball at work last week, and I think that’s helping some. I’ve also booked a prenatal massage for this weekend, so hopefully that helps too. Speaking of the large belly, I’m starting to get more and more comments from strangers asking when I’m due, which for some reason always catches me off-guard. I’m still not used to the idea that other people can tell I’m pregnant, for some reason. I guess it’s because depending on the outfit, I still feel like I just look like I’ve had too many hamburgers. Plus, I’ve had numerous occasions where I’ve had to stand on the bus without anyone offering me their seat, so I do think that with my coat on, sometimes you can’t tell. Either that or people are just selfish. Although, I did notice last week that one of my jackets only covers about half of my belly. 😐 I guess I just never look at myself in the mirror after I put my coat on in the mornings, but last week I stopped in the bathroom at work before dropping my stuff off in my office, and realized it may be time to retire this particular jacket, even if I can still zip it. Not the most flattering look!
With coat…Without coat. (Good lord, my boobs are almost the size of my head.)
This week I made quite a bit of progress on the nursery. I painted a dresser, spray painted two lamps, and started making a mobile for above the crib. Also, somewhat non-baby related, we bought a new mattress set! It will be delivered on Thursday and I am beyond excited. Here’s hoping a nice new mattress helps my achy back. But if nothing else, it will be nice to have more room to spread out (we are upgrading from a queen to a king size), especially since my body pillow takes up quite a bit of space!
Oh, and in other exciting news, I think we may have found our daycare! I mentioned last week that the search was stressing me out, and that we weren’t crazy about the Kindercare we had toured. Well, we went and saw the home daycare I mentioned last week, and we really liked it a lot. We spent a little over an hour talking to the owner/primary caregiver, and we both felt really at ease with her. She seemed very thorough and experienced, and I liked that she talked our ears off while we were there. Made me feel like she’d be very good about communicating what was going on with our son all day while he’s in her care. He’d be the only infant there, which has its pros and cons, but I think is mostly a plus. It’s too bad he won’t have any other little “friends” to play with, but he’ll also get to be held a lot, as she likes to integrate the infants with the older kids whenever possible. So whatever the other kids are doing, she’ll basically be holding him so he’s around them. There is also a secondary caregiver (her husband), so one of them can stay with the baby while he naps, and the other is attending to the other kids. I think a lot of the daycare search is about a gut feeling, and we both just had a good gut feeling about this. I’m going in tomorrow morning to observe what a typical morning looks like (we spoke with her at the end of the day so she could devote her full attention to us). Barring any strange practices or unforeseen circumstances, I think we’ll be ready to make an official decision and put down our deposit. She only has one space left and has another family coming to look later this week, so we’ll probably cancel our other two tours we have set up for next week and call our search done. It’s too bad we have to make a decision so quickly, but like I said, I feel good about this place. The only downside is the location, as it’ll add about a half our to our commutes, but we have our eye on a super conveniently-located preschool that takes kids at 1 year and up, so we’ll probably make the switch after he turns a year anyway.
With that long intro out of the way, here’s what’s happening with baby and me at 26 weeks…
Baby is now about 14 inches long and almost two pounds. Wow! His hearing should be developing more this week, and he’s both inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid in order to prep his lungs for breathing on the outside. It’s such a strange thought that they breathe in fluid but don’t drown. Little things like that make you realize what a miracle this process really is. He’s kicking like crazy, and the other night I got to watch him put on quite a show. My belly was bouncing all around like it had a mind of its own… and I guess technically it does. Funny, one of the blogs/pregnancy calendars I follow notes that the earlier butterfly kicks have been “replaced by something akin to a rabid mongoose flippin’ out inside a burlap sack.” Hahaha… I’m not sure if mine are that bad (maybe thanks to the anterior placenta?) but it’s a funny visual, and some days it does feel like he is in there doing gangnam style or something.
Mama is still dealing with the sciatic pain. It seems to be worse after I’ve been really active during the day (you know, doing things like painting dressers and spray painting lamps??). My mom offered to loan me her exercise ball to sit on at work, and I think I may need to book myself a massage sooner than later. D and I went to a movie last night and I just could not get comfortable, and spent the whole movie squirming and readjusting, trying to alleviate the sciatia. (On a side note, go see Silver Linings Playbook if you haven’t already. Jennifer Lawrence certainly earned her Oscar nomination, and Bradley Cooper is always nice to look at too.) But other than the sciatic pain, I’m feeling pretty good… that is, if you don’t count barfing this morning after I fed the dogs. It’s strange how the morning sickness creeps back in every now and then briefly, even at almost 6 months pregnant. Weight gain this week was .6 lbs. for a total now of 13.2 lbs.
I snapped a picture yesterday just before yoga class and can’t believe how big I’m getting. Crazy to compare the same outfit at 19 weeks and 13 weeks. The funniest part is, at the time I took each of those pictures, I remember thinking how huge I looked then. I find that laughable now, which makes me wonder if I’ll be looking back at this picture in 6-7 weeks thinking about how tiny I looked?? Yikes!
Wow, I think pregnancy brain is getting the best of me. I just realized today that I haven’t done my 25 week update yet… and then I thought, wait, or have I? I actually had to check. You’d think I’d remember writing it or not. But then again, I’ve been spacing on a lot of stuff lately. Like on Saturday we were invited to our friends’ baby’s first birthday party, and I swore it started at 2 p.m. I went about my Saturday morning like I usually do, left for yoga class at 10, and told D I’d be home around 12:30. Got out of yoga at noon and looked at my phone only to see I had 4 missed calls and 2 text messages from D letting me know the birthday party started at 11. Whoops. So I rushed home as fast as I could and we rushed off to the party, only to arrive a little after 1. Only two hours late… that’s just fashionable, right? Whoopsies.
So, here’s my 25 week update, 4 days late…
Baby is now about 13.5 inches from head to toe, and weighs about a pound and a half. Big developments this week include packing on the baby fat and growing more hair. Also this week, baby is learning to distinguish right side up from upside down, which seems to make sense, since he moves the most when I go from a standing position to laying down. I think throughout the day he probably gets used to me being upright, but when I lay down to go to bed he gets super squirmy – I picture him readjusting in there to orient himself and get comfortable again.
Mama is feeling pretty good, aside from being a space cadet and still dealing with sciatic pain. I’m finding it a little hard to get comfortable at night, and even just finding a comfortable position on the couch at the end of the day is hard sometimes. Thankfully, sitting at my desk isn’t too bad, though I don’t have the greatest office chair, so even though it doesn’t feel terrible while I’m sitting, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s contributing to my back issues. I think I am definitely going to buy an exercise ball to sit on (I know I’ve said that before…). I have some spa gift certificates that I was going to save for later in the third trimester, but maybe I should use one now. Not sure if a massage would help the sciatic pain, but it might. Otherwise, I’m feeling pretty good. Not too tired yet, and the weight gain seems to be coming along at a slow and reasonable pace. In fact, at my last appointment my doctor even commented on how well I’m doing with my weight this pregnancy. I’m up .4 lbs this week for a total weight gain now of 12.6 lbs. Next doctor appointment is February 15, where I’ll get to take the lovely gestational diabetes test. Not looking forward to that!
Other stuff: I’m still working on the nursery, and I sanded and primed the dresser we want to use as a changing table last weekend. I’ll probably paint it this weekend. Next project is going to be a mobile I’m making for above the crib, and then I need to either buy or DIY some sort of artwork for above the changing table. I’m also thinking about painting the trim work in the room white (it’s currently wood-toned), and I’m on the lookout for a nice reasonably-priced rug to tie the whole room together.
We’re also up to our necks in our daycare search, which is turning out to be a bit stressful, as it seems everywhere we look is either full or only has one opening left. We toured a Kindercare facility on Tuesday and while it was “just okay,” it didn’t really make a great impression on us. It was pretty chaotic in there, and they may or may not even have an opening for us. The director was going to look at their availability and get back to me on that. We’re seeing a home daycare this evening which has potential except for the fact that it’s not super conveniently-located and they have a hard stop at 5 each day. D would most likely have pick-up duty, so we’ll have to talk about whether that will work with his schedule. It’s about $100 cheaper per week than the Kindercare, though, and I liked the daycare provider on the phone a lot when I spoke with her. We’re going to tour two more daycare centers next Tuesday, and I have one other home daycare provider I still need to call. Hopefully we can find something we like and get in before it’s completely full!
As of yesterday I reached the point of viability, AKA v-day! Legally, that means doctors would do everything they could to save him if he were born now. Statistically, that means baby would have between a 40-70% chance of survival if he were born now, so obviously we want to keep him in there for much longer! But by 26 weeks that chance goes up to about 80-90%. Full term isn’t considered to be until at least 37 weeks – the point where baby would most likely have no lingering health problems. And 39-40 weeks is considered optimal. So yeah, keep baking little boy!
At 24 weeks…
Baby is about a foot long now, maybe a little longer, and weighs a little over a pound. He is still very skinny, but this week he should be getting more baby fat and his skin should become less translucent, and taking on more of a pinkish tone. His lungs are developing “branches” and cells that produce surfectant, which will help them inflate once he’s on the outside. He’s been kicking like crazy, which is appropriate since my uterus is about the size of a soccer ball now. Earlier this week I got a kick (no pun intended) out of freaking out D. As I’ve mentioned before, he isn’t super sentimental about feeling the baby kick, and has even admitted it kind of freaks him out. Well, the other morning we were laying in bed and he was still asleep. I grabbed his hand and placed it on my stomach since I knew baby was kicking a bunch at the time. He was still half asleep when baby kicked SUPER hard. So hard that it jolted D awake and he jerked his hand away while yelping an expletive I won’t repeat here. I couldn’t stop laughing. I told him that was a small taste of what I’m experiencing (only I absolutely love the kicks and can’t get enough of them). 🙂
Mama is feeling pretty good this week. Aside from some pesky sciatic pain and a little bit of hip pain, that is. I’ve also had a tiny bit of heartburn, but nothing like the fire breathing dragon I felt like last week. All in all, a pretty good week, physically-speaking. Belly is continuing to get bigger and bigger… while my belly button is getting shallower and shallower. I’m up 1.6 lbs. this week for a total weight gain now of 12.2 lbs.
I’m kind of bummed I’m not getting the luscious pregnancy hair other women often get. I read that many women stop shedding hair while pregnant, which results in thick and healthy looking hair. I’m definitely still shedding hair, and my hair looks more dull and frizzy, if anything. I also feel like I’m totally missing out on that whole pregnancy glow. My skin is both dry and breakout prone at the same time. Funny how all the old wives’ tales say that girls steal your beauty but I feel like my little boy is! Maybe that means he’ll be one handsome dude? According to old wives’ tales, with girls you carry all over and with boys you’re all belly out front, but I definitely feel like I’m getting wider. I’ve resisted looking at a rear view of myself, but I have a feeling I am NOT the type of person who only looks pregnant from the front. I pretty much have no waist definition anymore! Oh well… 16 more weeks and mama can start getting her body back!
23 weeks pregnant – only one more week until viability! Hard to believe in less than a week, I will have a baby who is potentially capable of surviving on the outside. Not that I want him born anytime soon, but it’s slightly more comforting in my crazy brain to know that if he was born next week, the doctors would do everything they could to save him.
Things are starting to feel a bit more real. We’ve been working away on the nursery (I’ll have to write a separate post just about that!), we’ve got our registry about 99% done, and I now have two baby showers being planned for me – a family shower being thrown by my mom and sister-in-law on February 10 (I’ll be 28 weeks) and one some friends are throwing on March 30 (I’ll be almost 35 weeks). Then we’ll have about a month to finish everything up and get the rest of the items on our registry that we didn’t get as gifts. Yikes – less than 4 months to go now and I’m starting to get nervous we won’t be ready. We are in the process of looking into classes at the hospital – birthing classes, infant safety/CPR, newborn care and breastfeeding. I’m having a hard time convincing D to sign up, though. For one, they’re pricey (about $260 for all of them), and two, some friends of ours told us they left halfway through the birthing class because they thought it was lame. So now D is convinced he wants to ask around to some other friends to find out if it’s really worth it. Grr… Even if it is lame, we don’t know what we’re doing, so I really don’t see any alternative but to take them. Hoping he comes to his senses soon so I can get us signed up while the good time slots are still open.
Anyway, onto my 23 week update…
Baby is now almost a foot long, and the pancreas should be kicking into gear sometime this week. The other big news is that his lungs are getting stronger and stronger – an important factor in viability, as mentioned earlier. He is kicking like crazy now, and in the last couple days has learned a new trick – kicking me square in the bladder!
Mama is feeling pretty good right now, aside from the sciatic pain. It seems to alternate between flaring up on the right side for a couple days, then over to the left. On rare occasions I have felt it on both sides, which makes it really hard to get comfortable. The other thing that cropped up earlier this week was heartburn. Holy moly. I felt like someone had lit a match in the back of my throat, and it lasted for about three days straight. Haven’t had it for about two days though, so hopefully it’s gone now (knock on wood). Oh, and my tailbone hurts too, when I sit for very long. A girl in my yoga class mentioned that her tailbone BROKE during her last pregnancy. Yikes! Okay, so looking back at the paragraph I wrote, maybe I should retract my “feeling pretty good” statement. At least my hips haven’t hurt me for a while, so there’s something. My skin is also super itchy, and the coconut oil I thought was helping, suddenly isn’t anymore. I think I felt the best when I was using a cocoa butter lotion, so I’m going to go back to using that to see if it helps. As far as weight goes, I actually lost 1.4 lbs over the past week, bringing my total weight gain so far this pregnancy down to 10.6 lbs. Not sure I’m really supposed to be losing weight during pregnancy, but given my rapid gain over the holidays, I’m giving myself a pass this week. I’d like to maintain a healthy 1 lb gain per week, which would give me a 27-28 lb gain total (recommended amount is 25-35).
And now, another work bathroom picture, since that’s the only time I ever remember to take my weekly photo. 🙂
I have been so bad about keeping up with this blog lately! Good thing I don’t have very many readers to disappoint. I’m blaming the holidays. The last time I skipped a week was at Thanksgiving, so that sounds like a plausible story. Yeah…
Anyhoo, I am now 22 weeks along. 22 weeks and 3 days to be exact. Here’s what’s going on with baby and me…
Baby is now about 11 inches long, or the size of a spaghetti squash. Or, as one hilarious pregnancy blog puts it, he’s about 1 inch shorter than your average 12-inch ruler (snicker). I’m glad I’m not the only one who finds these fruit comparisons a little ambiguous. But wow — 11 inches of baby residing in me. That’s a crazy thought. He should weigh about a pound by now too, which sounds like a lot, but what do I blame for the other 11 pounds I’ve gained? (Don’t answer that.) Weight aside, baby has definitely been kicking more lately! And he’s kicking strong enough to feel from the outside, as D got to experience a few days ago, though it wasn’t quite the magical moment I had hoped it would be. D says that it freaks him out. I think he’s seen the movie Alien one too many times.
Mama is feeling large. See weight gain reference above. Yes, I’m now up 12 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. They say 10-15 lbs. is where I should be right now, so I know I’m right on track, but I’ll admit it’s hard to accept these numbers I’ve never seen on the scale before! I’ve gained 4 pounds in two weeks, which again, is totally normal (they say 1-2 lbs. per week is what I should be gaining), but I also know I’ve been eating a lot of junk over the holidays, in addition to simply just eating a lot, period. I’m hoping now that the holidays are over, I can keep my weight gain closer to a pound per week. No sign of stretch marks still, which all the websites and books are saying may have started appearing by now. My stomach does itch a lot, though. I have been putting coconut oil on it which seems to help, and smells good too. My belly button is getting shallower by the day. I think it may disappear altogether in a few weeks, before popping out. Not really looking forward to the whole “belly nipple” look. Better wear my fitted shirts while I still can.
In the aches and pains department, I’ve been having a LOT of sciatic nerve pain lately. Thankfully, the hip pain seems to have decreased, so at least I’m not dealing with both. I think I may try sitting on an exercise ball at work to see if that helps. Even if it doesn’t help my back, it should help keep my core strong.
In other exciting news, we just started putting together the nursery! I’ve already painted the room, we found a great glider on Craigslist, and last night I started making the curtains. Still need to get a crib, and refinish/paint the dresser we’re going to use as a changing table. It’s all starting to feel real!
Can’t believe I’m halfway done. In many ways, this pregnancy has felt like it’s flown by, but then I look back at the agony and worry I experienced making it to our first ultrasound, past our loss milestone, making it to 12 weeks so we could tell everyone, making it to our anatomy scan, etc., and I realize just how long it’s taken at the same time. What’s that expression about the days going by slowly but the years going fast? I can’t remember the exact phrase, but that’s basically how I’m feeling now.
At 20 weeks…
Baby is about 6.5 inches long now from crown to rump, or 10 inches from head to toe! For the first 20 weeks, measurement is taken from crown to rump, but going forward, standard measurements are from head to toe. I forgot to ask what my exact measurements were during my anatomy scan, but depending on which book or website you’re looking at, baby is about the size of a coconut or butternut squash. New this week, he (yay, I get to use gender-specific pronouns instead of “it!”) is beginning to produce meconium, or basically, black sticky poops. This stuff will just accumulate in his bowels, and will come out after birth (or sometimes just prior to or during). Apparently his heartbeat is now strong enough to be heard with a regular stethoscope, but I haven’t tested this yet. I did just listen to his heartbeat again this morning on my doppler, though, and it still sounds nice and strong, around 140 BPM.
Mama is starting to feel a little more movement, but still not a ton, thanks to my anterior placenta. I am a bit jealous of other women at my same stage of gestation who can feel more – and whose partners are already able to feel it from the outside – but I’m told I’ll appreciate this cushion my placenta provides later in pregnancy when he starts walloping me with those big feet of his!
New this week: my belly button is getting wider and shallower – and it itches from all the stretching! I’m trying to stay well-moisturized to prevent stretch marks – although everything I’ve read says that while moisturizing can help, stretch marks are mostly genetic. I don’t think my mom got any, so hopefully I get that lucky too!
I’m up .2 lbs this week, for a total weight gain of 8 lbs. now. Feeling pretty good about that since most books and websites say around 5-10 lbs is normal, so I seem to be right in the middle. And I haven’t noticed my face or thighs getting noticeably fatter yet, so it seems to be so far mostly belly and boobs. I’m trying not to get too hung up on my body, though. Women gain weight when they get pregnant, period. As long as I eat well (which I have been), my body is going to do what it needs to do. I can always work on losing weight later.
Hips are still killing me at night, and I still get the occasional round ligament pain, but other than that I’m feeling pretty good! I know I tend to write a lot about my aches and pains in this blog, but it’s mostly to be able to look back and remember what I was feeling at the time, and I know many women have/had it much worse – and at the end of the day I’m beyond thankful to still be carrying this baby – so I’m really trying not to complain. Here’s to hoping the second half of my pregnancy goes as well as the first!
We had our anatomy scan yesterday, and everything looked great!! I was very nervous going into the ultrasound, and it didn’t help that it was in the same office where we had been sent with our last pregnancy to confirm the miscarriage. In fact, when I checked in, the receptionist looked at my chart and cheerily said to me, “Oh, looks like you were here about a year ago!” Ouch. Between the nerves and the painful reminder, it was hard to fight back tears while sitting in the waiting room. But we got called back and soon I was able to see my wiggling baby on the screen – who looked much more recognizably human than last ultrasound!
The ultrasound tech was great, and explained everything we were looking at in lots of detail. She said that baby was measuring right on track for my gestation, and that the heart, brain, stomach, kidneys, etc. all looked great. And, as you can see by the title, we are officially on team blue! I was shocked. I had this gut feeling we were having a girl, but there was no denying he is all boy! The tech was able to determine that this baby had come from my right ovary, which is of zero significance, but I thought it was interesting that she could tell. She also pointed out that I have an anterior placenta, which isn’t a concern, but explains why I haven’t been feeling much movement yet. That was comforting to know, and to see for myself that baby is definitely moving a lot, even if I’m not feeling much. He was wiggling all over the screen during the scan, kicking his legs over his head and sucking his thumb. It was very cute. My cervix was still measuring long and closed, which was a relief, as I was previously told I have a slightly elevated risk of incompetent cervix, due to a LEEP procedure I had done about 10 years ago. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem to be an issue, though I will continue to be monitored for any signs of shortening or dilation at future doctor appointments. The tech also commented on how big his feet are, which was funny, since D has really big feet. D was like, “well, I guess now we know for sure it’s mine!”
Here is my sweet baby boy!
And here are his big feet!
Update: I forgot to add this video in earlier. I thought of this song and D when we found out, and it makes me smile (and cry):
Keeping up with the Hoffmans 