Half Baked!

Our bun is half-baked ;)

After counting the weeks up, it's time to start counting down!!


Baby's now the size of a cantaloupe!
Baby gulps down several ounces of amniotic fluid every day, both for nutrition and to practice swallowing and digesting. And, these days, those taste buds actually work! Studies show that after birth, babies respond best to tastes they've already had via amniotic fluid. Meaning, think about what you'd like your future child to eat as you prepare your own lunch.

How far along? 20 weeks!!! Halfway!
Total weight gain/loss: I was right about a weight jump these past couple of weeks- I was up 5lbs at my appointment, putting me at 11lbs total gain!
Maternity clothes? I've been sticking to the few jeans that still button or wearing the belly band, or I wear a dress with leggings or tights. More comfortable right now than anything else.
Sleep: So so, nothing interesting.
Best moment this week: Finding out that our baby has no signs of any problems!
Movement: Baby is either a lot more active all of a sudden, or the gum drop has gotten quite a bit stronger/bigger. The movements are pretty frequent and there is no mistaking them! Mr. Beaver is still a little impatient, but has felt baby moving a few more times.
Food cravings: Nothing unusual, I do give into cravings a little more than I did pre-preg, but the actual cravings are no different than they ever were.
Gender: Team green! No turning back... even the ultrasound techs and doctor didn't bother looking, so nobody knows!
Labor signs: no thank you!
Belly Button in or out? Sticking out more and more every week. So gross.
What I miss: feeling healthy... I get tired/out of breath quickly, and need naps some days. My heart beats harder just from walking up the stairs in our house...
What I am looking forward to: Seeing family when we go to FL this week! Thanksgiving, our first baby shower!
Weekly wisdom: nothing comes to mind...
Milestones: Passing the half-way point!!!

Ultrasound update...

The report comments from my follow-up ultrasound: "Echogenic bowel was not seen on today's exam." YAY! Everything looked normal :)
Baby had the hiccups at the beginning of the exam- so cute :) We got a few more pictures, but the clarity today was so poor compared to the last ultrasound-I realize now how lucky we were to get the pics we did! Anyway, I did get a picture of the foot. Not as cute as it was on the more clear machine, but still pretty cute!

Pictures!

Not sure if the writing is big enough to read... The pics are from last Sat. Nov. 7, Wed. Nov. 11, Fri. Nov. 13, and this morning, Nov. 15. I think I popped! Last picture has my first attempt at wearing maternity jeans, but they wouldn't stay up if I tried to walk...I'm gonna try to shrink them. The pic next to it, though, are pre-pregnancy jeans that still button comfortably, so I may stick with those as long as I can!

Holy Moly!

the reason/result of my crazy appetite this week is pretty obvious by my growing belly!!

I will post pictures tomorrow with clothes on- I think this week my gut finally started looking like a baby bump!

I'm using a different baby description this week, thebump.com's was kinda gross and not very fun at all.

Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.

Your baby weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

How far along? 19 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: I think I might've jumped 2-3 lbs this week... so up 9 or 10 total now. We'll find out for sure on Tuesday.
Maternity clothes? I've actually been wearing the couple of jeans that still button or dresses this week, but I think I may need to try the maternity jeans this week...we'll see.
Sleep: I've been sleepy, nothing really interesting to report.
Best moment this week: Seeing our baby on the ultrasound!!! Best moment of the pregnancy.
Movement: I am definitely feeling it, although not very strong yet. Mr. Beaver felt it a little bit Monday night, but isn't patient enough to feel it regularly yet...
Food cravings: Nothing specific, but I have been very hungry!
Gender: Team green! But we do need to stay strong through one more ultrasound now...
Labor signs: no thank you!
Belly Button in or out? Sticking out more and more every week. So gross.
What I miss: Being able to walk the dog without getting out of breath. The hills kill me! By the time I get to the top of the cross country trail we walk my heart is pounding, and I make Lili pull me up!
What I am looking forward to: Seeing our baby again at our bonus ultrasound Tuesday :)
Weekly wisdom: Ask for pictures you want to be printed during your ultrasound...I wish I would've requested a pic of our baby's tiny little feet, but at the end we just got a long strip of profile shots. It was very nice of her to give us so many, but I wish I would've asked her to print one when we saw the little feet!
Milestones: Being sure that I what I am feeling is the baby, and seeing our baby with a healthy, normal brain/heart/etc!

Introducing...

our little baby beaver!!!

Our ultrasound this morning was amazing. I don't think there is any other way to describe it. After a few minutes of boring non-baby images the tech finally started the good stuff, beginning with Baby B's head. B had his/her (still a surprise!! I guess I'll alternate...) thumb in his mouth for almost half of the ultrasound. In the beginning, seeing our baby sucking her thumb was so cute, and made the whole having-a-baby-thing so much more real. Then I realized that we could see his cheeks moving in and out: he was sucking his thumb. I think that's when the tears first started pouring from my eyes.

We got to see every little bit of our baby, from her brain to her toes to the individual chambers of her heart to her tiny (1cm!) ears. One of my favorite images was of the bottoms of the two tiny feet (1in). I think his nose is the winner of cutest-baby-part of the day. Almost every single measurement was the same- 18weeks, 4days... one measurement was 19 weeks, but I can't remember what it was! Everything looked perfect to us, and laying there seeing my baby for the first time was one of the best moments of my life.

Another great moment of the ultrasound was finally associating the little things I've been feeling to the baby's movements- I finally believe that I am feeling the baby move!! Now it is much easier to recognize and it is so exciting. Mr. Beaver even spent some time tonight with his hand on my belly and got to feel some little movements. I love that when I feel them now I can picture our little baby moving around in there!

One not so exciting event of the day was the message I got this afternoon from the doctor. They asked me to call as soon as I got a chance, so of course I called immediately. When the radiologist examined our ultrasound, he noticed a bright spot, which the doctor said may be an echogenic bowel. Before telling me that, she assured me that everything with our baby is fine, so I'm a little bit confused. I'm trying not to look stuff up online and read other people's stories until we go in for a follow-up ultrasound next Tuesday to find out if there really is an echogenic bowel. This time the ultrasound will be performed by a doctor, not a tech. And when I called to schedule it, I found out it would not be with the regular imaging department, but with the genetics department. I am upset that I did not get more information from the doctor, but I think I was in shock. I am thinking of calling back tomorrow to try to get some more information to hold me over until Tuesday. The only thing mentioned was a small chance of echogenic bowel being a sign of cystic fibrosis, in which case the next step (if the spot is still there on the next scan) is for me to be tested to see if I carry the CF gene. I wish I knew more, but for now there isn't much we can do but wait until Tuesday.

We decided, for now, all we can do is be positive and continue to enjoy this exciting time in our lives. When we got home from work we watched the 3 minute dvd of the last part of our ultrasound, twice, and pointed out all of the perfect little features of our baby in his/her long strip of photos from this morning. We felt our baby moving around, fed her(me) lots of yummy salad for dinner and then some cake for dessert, and then looked at our collection of pictures again. I can't believe that I am almost to the half-way mark, and that we are only months away from holding our beautiful little baby!!

Fun stuff!

I got the invitation to our Florida shower yesterday! We are having it super early, because it is the only time we will see everyone in our home-town... I will be 21 weeks, and it is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. My sister is throwing the party at her brand-new house, and both of our moms are helping with planning. It's going to be joint shower, but I have a feeling the guys will end up in the back yard with a bunch of beer while the girls are all inside playing typical shower games and oohing and ahh-ing over cute baby things. I can't believe how cute the invites are- even Mr. Beaver made a comment about how cool they are:

We are SO excited, and it makes Thanksgiving vacation with family that much more fun to look forward to :) It has also been exciting to look at baby stuff and start to think about what we want and need. We got our travel system, and I can't wait for it to come in!! The next step is to organize our spare room so we can start working on the nursery. Right now I'm not sure where any baby stuff we get will go... I'm hoping it will motivate us to get to work.

And of course the most exciting thing about today... it is less than 24 hours now until we see our baby!!! I am so excited for the morning to come. I've got plenty of work to do to pass the time today, plus the Dolphins play at 1, and there are fun shows on tonight :) Ahh...I love feeling so happy!

The countdown to half-way has begun!

I realized yesterday afternoon that I was two weeks away from being half-way through the pregnancy. WOW the time has flown!! I am looking more pregnant by the day:

(no red sweats this morning- was running too late!)

Although it still isn't incredibly obvious to other people. I think people who know me are starting to notice, but I'm not sure that strangers look at me and think pregnant:Your fetus has become amazingly mobile (at least compared to you), passing the hours yawning, hiccuping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking and swallowing. And, baby's finally big enough that you'll be able to feel those movements soon.

How far along? 18 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: still up ~7 lbs total.
Maternity clothes? Still rockin' the bella-band, as seen above. I almost wore a maternity dress today, but it still looked a little too baggy.
Sleep: Not great, but naps are helping.
Best moment this week: Telling people at work!!!
Movement: Same as last week...may be feeling baby, but I'm not convinced. Hoping seeing the baby on the ultrasound at the same time as feeling him or her will help me figure it out.
Food cravings: None... I say I'm craving chocolate sometimes, but it's just an excuse because I want to eat some.
Gender: Team green! After Nov. 9, there is no turning back... only 2 MORE DAYS(!) to stay strong!
Labor signs: no thank you!
Belly Button in or out? Sticking out more and more every week. So gross.
What I miss: Being able to breathe at night. Stuffy nose and sneezing wake me and keep me up :(
What I am looking forward to: Seeing our baby at the ultrasound!!!!!
Weekly wisdom: You can find great deals online... we combined a coupon code, Bing cash-back, and a referral code from a message-board friend to order our travel system (car seat/stroller) this week, and saved about $80!! It's even better than the one we originally registered for, at a much better price. It will be here any day now!
Milestones: Being "out" at work and making the first big baby-necessary purchase (car seat)

Mom's-eye view

of the bump. It is definitely there!!

Wow- 17 weeks!

I can't believe I hit 17 weeks yesterday- the weeks seem to by flying by!


Ugh- I've always hated my outie-belly-button but I really am hating it these days. My mom recently had surgery to make hers an innie... I might need to do this some day.

Anyway, this week's survey:

Baby's skeleton is hardening, changing from rubbery cartilage to bone, and fat is finally accumulating around it. The umbilical cord is getting thicker and stronger, and those little fingers and toes are now topped by one-of-a-kind prints.


How far along? 17 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: guessing I'm up ~6 or 7 lbs total.
Maternity clothes? I have some, but haven't worn them yet. Wearing the belly bands daily though! Also experimenting with sweater dresses and other dresses over turtleneckes with stockings.
Sleep: Still not great, but wasn't too tired this week.
Best moment this week: Mr. Beaver commenting that I was starting to look pregnant!
Movement: Every once in a while I think I feel something, but I'm not sure if it's the baby or not. I'm hoping for feeling something soon that I know for sure is the baby.
Food cravings: I don't have cravings like I've always imagined them, but I have noticed I'm in the mood for specific things lately. One day I was in the mood for fried food, and a couple of other days nothing really sounded appetizing besides salad. I guess these were minor cravings...
Gender: Team green! After Nov. 9, there is no turning back... only a couple more weeks to stay strong!
Labor signs: no thank you!
Belly Button in or out? Sticking out more and more every week. So gross.
What I miss: Nothing really, I guess it was a little strange not drinking on halloween, but I didn't really miss it.
What I am looking forward to: Telling work- it didn't happen last week, but will most likely happen tomorrow! and of course feeling the baby move (and knowing for sure that it is what I am feeling)
Weekly wisdom: Registering is really difficult- it's not easy to pick out stuff without having done the research already, unless you just go by appearance alone!
Milestones: Making the first purchase for the nursery!