18 weeks 2 days

How far along: 18 weeks

Growth: DH loves to keep up with the fruit/vegetable size comparisons and yesterday he told me... "She's a mango today!" Those were his exact words!! lol!! My visual was of my baby turning into a mango! :) According to a couple of other resources, it appears she's 5.59 inches from crown to rump and 6.70 ounces now!

Symptoms: none other than fetal movement!

Total weight gain: +5.5 lbs ..I'm proud of this considering I'd probably gain about 5 lbs over the holidays and baby girl was 6 ounces at 17 weeks!! So in my mind, we're right on target - lol!

Maternity clothes: Oh yes! My scrubs are still fitting me for work, but I do have some that I'm about to retire any day now. :(

Stretch marks: No new ones.

Sleep: The last 2 nights I've been in bed by 8:30 pm! I've been getting about 11 hours of sleep! Let's just say I'm enjoying these last few months of sleep!

Best moment this week: Registering at Babies R Us with DH. He was so excited to get the opportunity to park in the "Expectant Mothers" parking space!!!

Movement: I've been feeling lots of movement on a daily basis! No hard kicks or punches yet! Just taps and wiggles for now!

Food cravings: None.

What I miss: Wearing my Miss Me jeans!

What I am looking forward to: Ringing in the new with my loving husband at my side! This New Year has so much meaning for us!!

How is daddy? I don't think I've seen him more happy and excited about this baby!!

17 weeks 2 days

My stress level has reached an all time high for this pregnancy. Nothing at all having to do with the pregnancy or the baby - everything having to do with our vehicle. Being a one car household is extremely financially rewarding, especially when your 2004 is so close to being paid off. In my mind, it was going to be perfect. We'd have a paid off vehicle and if we wanted to get another vehicle we could. Then, we'd be a two car household with one car payment = great! Well great went from great to horrible real quick. I won't bore you with the mechanical details, but as of this morning it wasn't running. Hopefully some time very soon I'll be able to say I have a new car...

In much better news, I've been feeling movement. The first tickles were on 15w4d - actually the day of my last blog post. It felt as if my pants had shifted a tiny bit and it tickled. For the next 3 or 4 days I continued to feel this once or twice a day. Then the taps started and one night while I was in bed it happened about 3 or 4 times. I was positive of what I was feeling. Ever since Tuesday (17 weeks) I've been feeling the taps throughout the day! I even think I've startled her a couple of times! It's so weird to think of how tiny she still is and how I'm able to feel movement already! She was moving so much a few minutes ago that I put my hand firmly on my belly and I thought I felt her, so I told DH and he immediately put his hand on my belly. She moved and he said "I think I felt her!" Everyone was right! I love this part of pregnancy!!

Our anatomy scan was on Tuesday at 17 weeks. I was worried that this may be too early, and I feared that something may not look right or developed enough. I would have been so grateful to get another chance to check on her, but I didn't want the extra stress and worry on top of our car issues. Luckily, everything looked and measured perfectly!! I think we have a perfectionist on our hands!!!

And lastly, if you've noticed I've continued to say SHE and HER, because as of Tuesday she is definitely still a SHE!! We're have a baby girl! I'm so excited!!!! We do have a couple of names picked out, but we're not 100% yet. I really wanted to pick a name before the shower or definitely before delivery, but we're so undecided on these two names, that we may want to meet her before we choose! Here's a pic from our scan:

My other life

Having our first child is definitely a huge part of our lives now! It's the topic of conversation 9 times out of 10, but I do still live "my other life." I'm still a student, business owner, and full time employee for the world's greatest OB/GYN; however, now I'm a pregnant student, pregnant business owner, and pregnant employee!

Finals are upon me. I'm studying for two this weekend and completing a take home final by Tuesday. As of Tuesday evening, hopefully I can say that I'm done with Fall Semester 2010!! Too bad Winter Break is only a few weeks long before Spring semester starts. I'm taking a Chemistry class next semester. Do you think my 8 month pregnant belly will be a science lab hazard?!?! lol.

Speaking of my belly... I've had a few requests for belly pics and I'm grateful to say my belly hasn't grown that much! I've only gained about 2 or 3 pounds and I don't think it was in my belly - maybe my booty! Here are my belly pics from 8 weeks and this week! Not a huge difference, maybe because I was overweight to begin with or I have a tiny little girl growing inside!! I do notice changes in my belly. I'm no longer able to wear most of my pre-pregnancy jeans, my belly sticks out more when I'm sitting down, and I can no longer sleep on my back for very long (can't breathe!!).



Sleeping has become more difficult. I cannot roll over as easily as I used to. I have been experiencing minor back pains in the morning, so I'm thinking I may need to buy one of those pregnancy pillows soon. I can tell I'm totally out of shape. School has taken all of my available gym time from me. I'm so eager to get back into the gym. I hate being out of breath so often! I feel so sluggish.

Getting used to the idea of having a GIRL...

I know our scan wasn't 100%, so I've kept an open mind, but I've been looking at other u/s videos and pictures and I'm convinced we're having a girl!

Everyone, including myself, was proven wrong! I felt like I was carrying a boy. I guess my intuition isn't off to a good start! It's strange saying "she", but, oh my goodness, was it fun looking at girl stuff at the mall yesterday!! I do have to say I'm positive having a girl will be so much fun... and probably very expensive!!

I'm looking forward to the "Daddy's Girl" and the "Apple of his eye" aspects. I can't wait to see how DH reacts to a baby GIRL!!

I was able to get the video upload online, if you'd like to humor yourself. I apologize for the blurriness. I had to crop the video to exclude my full name, birth date, and doctor's name, and it compromised the quality. :(

14 weeks 3 days

sigh... It's been difficult getting back to reality after the Thanksgiving Holiday. We traveled south to Austin to see our family and friends. It has been almost a year since we were there last, so it was so great to see our family and friends that we had not seen in so long! Talk was all about baby!

I did have an appointment yesterday at 14 weeks 2 days. We did get a very thorough u/s and DH and I were so very grateful! Doc says we have a healthy baby who measures right on time! I couldn't have asked for anything more.

I have to be honest, I was a little too preoccupied about possibly getting an idea of the gender prior to my appointment; however, while I was laying down looking at my baby that notion completely escaped me when he measured the head, the belly, and the heart rate and everything was perfect! Then, doc looks between the legs and asks "Would you like any ideas on gender?" I immediately said "Yes!"

Doc is 80% sure we are TEAM PINK!!!

I'm driving myself crazy about the gender stuff though. Please don't get me wrong, first and foremost, I'm forever grateful we have a healthy baby; one that we've waited for for so so long!! I couldn't ask for anything more!! But here are my worries about the gender. During my u/s's at work and my u/s yesterday w/ my doc, both during 14 weeks, we saw 2 lines, but nothing sticking out... I know my doctor has been doing this for a long long time, and I'm trusting that he's right, but I can't help to think doesn't 2 lines mean boy?

We have our anatomy scan on December 21st, so I just need to wait it out, stop getting u/s's at work, and just stop thinking about it!!

If baby cooperates, I will be forever grateful that we will have confirmation by CHRISTMAS!!!!

Here are a few pics from my scan yesterday...