21 weeks 6 days

Not much new to report this week. Baby is kicking up a storm. Especially after I eat :)

What's interesting this week is the baby starts to swallow an oz or two of amnionic fluid practicing for when he's born.

That means what I eat, he can taste :)  Hope he likes peanut butter and chocolate muffins haha.   Actually, I've had brussel sprouts, salad, fruit, eggs, etc as well. Maybe it will help him eat his veggies? I can hope right?

The crib arrived int he store today. Have to schedule delivery. That's the last big piece of furniture for the room.  Excited to meet our little man.

Here's a 21 week pic with Nate photo butt bombing haha

20 Weeks, 2 Days. Halfway there and it's a BOY!

This week the baby weighs about 10 ounces and is about 6-6 1/2 inches long from crown to rump.

I'm starting to feel little pops from the inside. It's really weird!  Nate can't feel anything yet even with his hand on my tummy. That will soon change I'm sure.

So here's the story of the first ever in utero sex change.  At week 16 the tech thought she saw a labia. Thankfully, we didn't tell the world it was a girl just in case she was wrong. 16 weeks is really early to see everything and the only reason we did a scan then was because I originally had twins and was on a more frequent scanning schedule.  They were kind and kept me on the schedule to help assuage my fears of losing both babies.

At 19 weeks, 3 days we had our anatomy scan.  We asked the tech to tell us if she could could confirm it was a girl.  She was more interested in the brain, heart, etc. which are all perfect, but finally she says, "You've been saying 'She' and I see a penis and a scrotum."  HAHA Poof! Sex change!

She brought the doctor on staff in to confirm so we wouldn't have any doubts.  Yep, it's a boy.  See?

Imagine the baby is sitting on a glass coffee table and you're underneath looking up. The white dots are what the first tech saw and are probably reflections or butt bones cuz that thing in the middle is definitely a little baby wee wee! :)

I had ordered these beautiful ruby red slippers planning for a photo announcement for a girl so we had to scramble to find some boy shoes fast.   More photos to come later but this one turned out really well. River is playing guard dog already! 

Yes we have some names picked out, but we're not going to decide until he gets here. Thanks for following along!

19 Weeks 6 Days.. and SURPRISE!!!

Baby is six inches long this week and about a half pound in weight and about the size of a large mango. Mmmm mango.

We had our 19 week anatomy scan on Tuesday and well let's just say Nate and I were surprised! So good news is the baby is growing right on track and has all the essential parts and pieces; 4 quadrants of the heart, brain is developing on track, brain stem is visible, nose, lips, eyes, etc. We can rule out cleft palate, etc.

I did the last round of blood work for the chromosomal testing so we'll see in a few days the odds for Downs and other related disorders but everything is looking good.

The surprise is the gender.  What we thought we saw at week 16, we didn't :) Good thing we did a gender neutral nursery!  We're perfectly happy with either but it was a bit of a shock.

We're doing something fun with some photos to reveal the gender to our friends so hang on. I promise the wait won't be long.  In the mean time, here's a profile view of our Mossling at 19 weeks.

18 Weeks 3 Days

Baby is about 5 1/2 - 6 inches long and about the size of a bell pepper

mmm now I'm hungry. :) 

Baby can recognize voices now! That's pretty exciting and scary.  Are you listening to everything I say baby? :) 

My boobs have been hurting pretty badly lately.  We have our OB appointment on Thursday so I'll mention it but I am sure it's normal.  

Not much change in MY size in the last couple of weeks, which is good.  I'm sure baby is still growing strong.

16 weeks                                              18 weeks

 

My parents and brothers came this past weekend to help paint the nursery. We got so much done! Yay for family help.  Still need to order the crib, but I have plenty of coupons for Buy Buy Baby now so we'll do that maybe this weekend if we can.  Have to go down there to order it as the coupon is only good in store and its worth 20% on a big ticket item. 

That's all for now!

17 Weeks 4 Days and yay for Prego Pants!

Baby is about 5 inches long and about the size of an onion.

Baby is starting to put on baby fat to match mommy's! :) I'm feeling pretty good. Tired and unshapely, but it's all worth it.

Baby's fingerprints are forming and he/she can be startled by noises now which is good because fetuses who regularly hear a dog barking will become babies who sleep right through it.  So please, ring the doorbell and make River bark her head off when you come see us!

My parents are coming this weekend to help us paint the nursery.  Maybe we'll have an impromptu yard sale and try to get rid of the furniture building up in the garage!

Looking forward to putting the wall decals up and getting the furniture ordered.

16 Weeks, 3 Days - New Pictures!

Baby is now weighing 3-5 oz and measuring 4-5 inches in length.  Facial muscles are developing allowing baby to make a few facial expressions.  Most excitingly baby can start to hear our voices. Tiny bones in the ears are developing :)  We need to start singing to the baby!

We had our 16 week scan this morning. Baby is measuring right on track. All parts and pieces are there :)  The technician is fairly certain of the gender, but we're not sharing people outside immediate family yet. We'll be able to confirm it in 3 weeks on our next scan.  

Here's an updated pic!

15 Weeks, 3 Days - Much Whining Below:

January is finally over.  I wish I could believe all the setbacks and sadness were behind us. First, the positive:

Baby is now the size of a large orange at about 4 inches.

I ate one of these with lunch today. It was yummy :) I bought a fetal doppler last week and have found the heartbeat several times. It's reassuring. 

Here's the bad:  I feel like much of this applies to me - http://www.babycenter.com/0_depression-during-pregnancy_9179.bc

January was a particularly stressful month, but if you look back at all we've been through over the last 2 years to get to this point, it's not surprising that I am probably depressed.  Yes, this is supposed to be a happy time but, telling me to "think positive" and "be positive" doesn't help. 

The article above indicates 1 in 10 women will suffer from depression during pregnancy and those who have had losses or gone through fertility treatments are more susceptible. I've never been on anxiety or anti-depression medication, but if I don't snap out of it soon I may have to consider my options. 

Going through 4 rounds of fertility treatments, losing one of the twins, several deaths right in a row last month.. it's just too much.  On top of that, I feel like I have no control over what's happening to my body.  12-13 years ago, I fought to lose almost 60lbs and seeing it slowly creep back on and not having the ability to work out crazy hard to fight it back is making me nuts. Yes, yes, I know it's baby and I'll lose it when I breast feed etc, but that doesn't help the emotions now.  Being short and not stick thin to begin with makes me feel like a butterball turkey!

My afternoon meeting today was cancelled so I decided to go to Macy's to the Motherhood section and see if I could find another pair of jeans that fit. I have one.  I tried on 6 pairs and nothing.  Finally found a pair of black velour / velvet lounge pants and picked up a t-shirt.   I got in my car and called Massage Envy and went and had a massage.  Felt good, but lying on my left side for 30 min was not 100% comfortable.  Came home and ordered two pairs of the jeans I know will fit online.  Sigh.

I really want sushi and a drink.