Owls and Bella Bands

I am completely obsessed about doing this baby's nursery in an owl theme. I found the most adorably expensive owl bedding that I've been trying to talk myself out of for weeks now (because I was determined to find something cheaper), but I just can't get it out of my head. I have to have it! So if you see any super cute owl accessories for the bedroom let me know (or buy them for the shower, hint hint). Here's a picture of the bedding:


Oh I love it!

I'm feeling pretty good this week, no painful issues or weird instances. I am having a crazy sweet tooth lately though, and I did have to finally start wearing my jeans unbuttoned. I can actually still physically button them, it's just not very comfortable, so I had to pull out my trusty ol' Bella Bands from the last pregnancy (they're a piece of stretchy fabric that you wear over the tops of your jeans to keep them from falling down when unbuttoned). I absolutely hate spending money on maternity clothes, especially since I plan on this being our last pregnancy, so hopefully I can wear my normal jeans for quite a while still. I also need to find the box I packed away with all my old maternity clothes... I guess it's a good thing we're moving soon, I'm sure I'll run into them then!

All About The Baby This Week

Is it a Boy or a Girl...

This ultrasound was a bit different from Kash's, they do things a little differently at Kaiser than they did at the doctor when I was pregnant with Kash. First of all, they made me drink 36 ounces of water an hour before the appointment so that I'd have a humongously full bladder during the ultrasound. I'm not sure why this is necessary. I had heard about doctor's requiring this during Kash's pregnancy, and even though for Kash's ultrasound I wasn't instructed to do that, I did it anyway to ensure some good pictures. But when I got called back to the exam room with Kash the first thing they asked me was if I needed to use the bathroom, what a waste! So anyway, I was wondering why, if I didn't need a full bladder then, do I need it now? I really had to pee by the time I got into the exam room, and all the poking and prodding with the ultrasound wand didn't help at all. Kaiser wouldn't let TJ into the ultrasound room until after they did the initial snapshots of all the baby's organs and such, and since this little guy kept facing the wrong direction, it was taking quite a while. I was starting to worry that TJ might begin to think that something was wrong, waiting out there for so long. but she finally let me go to the bathroom, and called TJ into the room for the "show and tell". She started at the top of the baby's head, and slowly moved down his body, pointing out all of his body parts along the way. When she got to his face, he opened and closed his mouth a few times like he was talking to us, and then he waved one little arm as if to say "hi". And when she finally got to his genitalia, he shoved his hands in the way! Then when he finally moved his hands, he closed his legs. I was actually starting to worry that we'd be going home without knowing the sex, he was not cooperating! But he finally stopped being a punk and let us see:



I was completely in shock, I really thought it was a girl. I had only been looking at girl bedding and thinking of girl names, I had basically just already planned on it being a girl. So I had to completely flip my thoughts and change my mindset for a boy, and it took a day or so to get used to it. It was almost like I just found out that I was pregnant. (And just so no one misunderstands me, I did not want it to be a girl, I actually didn't care either way, I just really thought it was a girl). So now that I've adjusted, and have started looking at boy stuff, I'm actually a bit relieved. I was having a hell of a time finding girl items that I liked (especially bedding), and I've already found everything I want for this new little boy. We already have boy clothes and boy toys from Kash, and I think Kash will really enjoy having a little brother to wrestle around with.

Now, even though we had finally found out the sex of the baby, the ultrasound still wasn't quite over yet. This little boy had been facing front the entire appointment so far, and the technician needed pictures of his spine. So she made me dance around to try to get him to flip. Otherwise I'd have to come back for another exam (and my co-pay wasn't cheap), so I was determined to move him around. After a few minutes of skipping, hip rolling, and hanging upside down, the tech came back into the room and had me lie down. And it worked! She was able to get all the pics she needed. So now we have to wait for the results from the doctor, to hear if all the organs look as they should. But everything looked good to me!

Here's a creepy shot of his face, he looks like a little alien, but you can also see his heart in this one:



And here's my favorite one (he wouldn't stop sucking on his fist):

The Hokey Pokey

Well I definitely feel more pregnant this week. My round belly is getting almost impossible to hide, and this little guy has been doing the hokey pokey in there all week. TJ was even able to feel him dancing around last weekend. So a big change from the way I've been feeling for the last few weeks.

I had my monthly doctor appointment this week. My OBGYN has decided to move to another office, so I have a new doctor now. She didn't seem very warm and caring, and that would bother me if I weren't moving in a month anyway. Who knows how many doctor's I'll have had assigned to me by the time this baby's born. It's a good thing I'm not one of those people who are finicky with their doctor's. Anyway, not much went on during this appointment. She asked me how I was feeling, and then we listened to the baby's heartbeat. She had a really difficult time finding it, it took her a good 2 minutes. All we kept hearing at first was swipes of his arms or legs. But she finally found it, and it sounded good. She told me that my ultrasound pictures had been reviewed, and that there were two issues. One was that my placenta is pretty low. She said it's not really a big deal, I might have some bleeding here and there because of it, but as I get further along in the pregnancy it should move up on it's own. The second issue was that they were waiting to see if they had taken enough pictures of the baby's brain, and that if they didn't I'd hear from them to come back in.

So the next day I get a call from the ultrasound office. This woman tells me more information about these two issues. She says that they want to schedule me for another ultrasound at 28 weeks to check the location of my placenta, to make sure that it has moved up. Apparently if it doesn't, I'll have to have a c-section because it's not safe to deliver vaginally with a low lying placenta. Fingers crossed I do not need a c-section, I do not want to deal with that! And as far as the pictures of this little guy's brain go, it looks like we're going to go through the same thing as we did with Kash. I guess they sent my pictures to a specialist, and there is a 4 millimeter sized cyst on the left side of his brain (which is super small, which is a good thing). They have referred me to a high risk doctor to be on the safe side and keep an eye on it. She said there is an incredibly small chance that this could be a marker for trisomy 18, and they're waiting for the results of my blood work to come in, to see how the numbers correspond with the chance of this baby having Down Syndrome. At first I got kind of upset about all of this information, but cysts in the brain of an 18 week old fetus is actually really common, and just like in Kash's case, they usually disappear in the weeks to follow. So I'm not really worried anymore, but I am anxious to hear from the high risk doctor and see what he has to say. The problem with all of the technological advances we have had over the years is that they can detect a lot more than they used to, so things that normally would have gone unnoticed are becoming things to fuss over, even when they're nothing to worry about at all.

And my craving list for this week consisted of:
~spaghetti sandwiches
~gooey chocolate chip cookies
~fruits and veggies
~my G-Ma's tacos


Stats
18 weeks 3 days
Starting Weight: 132
Current Weight: 133
Waist @ Belly Button: 35.25 inches
Growth: 4.5 inches

Some idiot at the UPS Store the other day asked me if I was due soon. Really? I said "No, I have 5 more months left." Jack Ass. I guess I better prepare myself for all those stupid pregnancy comments coming my way...

All About The Baby This Week

normalcy? and discipline

I don't really feel pregnant lately, which I guess is a good thing really, but it kind of worries me at the same time. Most of my horrible first trimester symptoms have gone away, which is what had been reminding me that I was pregnant up until now. And since my stomach isn't very big yet, I don't look pregnant; and I don't feel the baby move too often, so I don't have that reassurance that everything is alright in there. So sometimes I actually forget that I'm pregnant, which I think is pretty weird. I'm even still able to sleep on my stomach (which is my favorite way to sleep, so I'm extremely thankful for that), but I would think that by now luxuries like that would be gone. But on the upside, I have more energy to exercise and get things done now, and I can smell most things without gagging, which is always nice. I still just think it's weird that I don't feel pregnant though, I don't remember feeling this way with Kash...

And this week's list of cravings are:
~greek style vanilla yogurt
~cheese pizza
~sushi
~oreos

My hip flexors have been absolutely killing me. They're always a little tight, but lately I've had to stretch them out for a half hour straight before I get any relief. So that's a pain. And I've noticed that over the past few weeks it seems to really put a strain on my stomach to yell at Kash. He's constantly testing me to see what he can get away with, and he's even started to ignore me when I talk to him, so naturally there's been a lot of yelling. But when I yell at him I can feel the muscles around my belly get all tense, and it seems to actually take double the strength to yell than it did before. So I tried not yelling as loud when I discipline him, but then he doesn't know that I'm as mad as I am, and so he doesn't stop what he's doing. So either Kash is about to become the most horribly behaved 2 year old in the world, or this little baby might pop out sooner than expected....

Oh, and here's a status update I posted on facebook this week, it's pregnancy related so I thought it belonged here too: Danielle Glover wishes it was more obvious that I was pregnant. If anyone just watched me devour that slice of costco pizza like I did, I'd hate to know what they thought...

All About The Baby This Week

bedtimes and blankets

I remember when I was pregnant with Kash that I would go to bed at like 7:30 or 8 each night, I was just too exhausted to stay up any later. And so far during this pregnancy, although I'm tired most of the day, I could still stay up until midnight or so to get everything done around the house that I couldn't do while Kash was awake. Well, that's come to an end. The last few nights I've been in bed by 10, and that was really pushing it, so it looks like I'll be going to bed with Kash pretty soon, and the house is likely to begin to fall apart...

I've been craving all kinds of things lately, so I thought it might be fun to make a list each week of the foods I've craved. So here's this week's list:

~Fresh cooked veggies; mainly carrots, broccoli, and cabbage. Thia has led me to eat Flame Broiler for lunch twice this week (a teriyaki chicken rice bowl with topped with those veggies). So good.
~orange creamsicles, or push-up ice cream pops
~Barbeque chicken pizza with pineapple from Vince's in Lancaster, not from anywhere else, which makes this craving particular upsetting since I don't live there.
~frozen yogurt

And Kash said the cutest thing yesterday. After I had stepped out of the shower and was about to get dressed, he came into my room and put his hands on my belly. I said "Do you want to give the baby a kiss?" Kash said yes and kissed my belly. Then he said "and hugs", and gave me a big hug. I then pulled my shirt down over my belly and Kash said "baby, sleeping, blanket." He thought my shirt was the baby's blanket. So sweet.

http://www.gerber.com/pregnancy/growth_and_development/week_16_your_pregnancy.aspx