Week 23

Taken last week at 22 weeks

23 weeks down, just 18-ish more to go! Sounds like a long time, but I have a feeling it's going to go by real fast. The pregnancy itself for the most part is going by very fast and I am happy to report that it seems like just a month or two ago I saw those two lines that began this amazing journey. I'm only guessing, but it will probably be terrifying when we start counting down from 10 weeks left. Or maybe it will drag...waiting around for it and all. We shall see.

Baby is kicking harder and more frequently everyday now, which is just awesome. I haven't had any of those "low fetal movement" days in a few weeks now, thank goodness. Those suck. I have read not to fret over not feeling the baby kick all the time but it's really hard not to. And I also read that the bigger the baby gets, the less you may feel it move, due to the lack of room in there. So I'll just have to remember that for the future. The orange juice trick works just about every time for me. Everytime I drink it he starts kicking immediately. 

I have started sleeping exclusively on my side these days. I know the doctor told me I don't have to do that until I am really big, but it makes me nervous to lay flat on my back for too long, so I just don't. And the other night I was just resting on my back for like 10 minutes and I swore I started to feel lightheaded. Don't know if that's possible yet, since I'm really not big at all, but better safe than sorry in my book. 

Plus sleeping on my side isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Usually I can't stand side-sleeping cause it bothers my neck and shoulders, but using a million pillows propped under me in all the right places makes a world of difference. I haven't been having my typical upper back pain at all, in fact. Really the main aches and pains I have are in my feet. They absolutely KILL after a long day at work. And my hips have been bothering me at night and in the morning especially. Must book prenatal massage like, now. I think the extra weight around my belly is starting to actually impact them. 

Speaking of bellies - my new belly is kind of cute! I have put on 15 pounds so far and feel good about it. Pretty proud of that right there. I have to admit it's a little scary watching the numbers change on my scale so quickly, but not nearly as scary as I thought it'd be. I've always had weird body issues, so I never thought I'd have a yearning to get larger in the belly. But it really feels good...healthy in a robust, alive kind of way. My bump is clearly a baby right now, as opposed to the last few months of just looking like I was getting plumper around the middle. I kind of tried to hide it for the majority of the pregnancy, just because I wasn't too fond of the change in my waist yet, but now my baby bump is flaunting itself all over the place. All hail to the bump.

The one thing I have to say is an extremely unpleasant sensation I've been getting is when I have stabby pains in my groin. I believe they refer to this as "Round Ligament Pain," or essentially, my uterus stretching to make room for the growing baby. Ouch. And sometimes when I'm laying down he kind of balls up over to one side of me, and you can literally see the baby curled up in a ball in my belly. It's a weird uncomfortable pressure feeling and it's very alien-like. 

And here's some exciting news - Cody is now able to SEE the baby kicking from the outside! So 

cool. Also alien-like.

Before.

And of course the little baby room. We won't be setting up the crib anytime soon, based on how we'll need the space for company during the holidays, plus it's just too early. Setting up the crib seems like the last thing we should do. In my superstitious mind, it feels like a jinxy project to get into so early. So we may just hold off on that til March. But we were all ready to repaint as soon as we found out the sex. 

We wanted to give it a cozy, relaxing feel, but nothing too drab or "baby themed," if that makes any sense. So we, actually Mom & her boyfriend Dave (THANKS A MILLION), painted it. They primed over the bright yellow paint in one day and slapped the wall and ceiling paint on a few days later, saving us a big headache and tons of time. They did it all in just a few hours. I'm sure it would have taken Cody and I two days at least. 

The bright blue on the ceiling was a little scary to commit to, but it was an idea I saw on Pinterest and we both just were drawn to it for some reason. We picked out the paint and then went home, where I then had paint-buyer's remorse for the next 12 hours. I was like, "Um, is pregnancy making me lose my mind? Why would I want to put blue on the ceiling, what was I thinking?" But Mom and Cody convinced me it was a good choice so we just went for it. And I'm glad we did. The walls look white in the picture below but they're actually a soft gray. The ceiling is actually much more mellow in person, and really gives the room the vibe we were going for. Soothing, bright, cozy, relaxing, fun, and whimsical - all traits I hope to see in our little guy.

After.
Love it!

Baby Thoughts

As I sit here mowing down my lunch of a monster turkey reuben, surfing the web, trying not to get sauerkraut juice all over the keyboard, I am distracted by the millions of thoughts running through my mind. So I decided to try and clear my head by writing today.

My house is quiet and peaceful, yet cluttered with junk all over, and dust and fur balls are clinging to everything. I am distracted by them too but really don't feel motivated enough to clean anything at all. We've been on a pretty regular schedule of deep cleaning just about every couple weeks; vacuuming, mopping, dusting. But it gets gross by the end of the second week, where we are currently. Oh well.

And as I sit here and write this, having finished my sandwich, the deep thud of the baby's kick still pleasantly surprises me even though he's been doing that for five whole weeks (but getting bigger and stronger each day now). It's as if he's giving me a high five for the deliciousness that somehow immediately reaches him. It's so weird, and amazing, how that happens every time I eat something.

I keep thinking in my head, that I can't wait to meet you little baby boy. I keep staring at your pictures on the fridge, admiring your cute little button nose and how curious you seem to look in my favorite one, the one with your hands clasped. You are gonna be a cutie, that's for sure.

It sounds weird to say but I feel like the reality of my pregnancy is finally starting to set in. Somehow I just didn't get the excitement for the first twenty weeks or so that is now coursing through my veins. I guess it just didn't seem like it was really happening, even though it clearly was from day one.

My belly is starting to feel like a balloon, and I am pretty sure that every single day it gets just a teeny bit bigger. I was getting dressed this morning and noticed that even if I tried really hard to hide my baby bump, it would be nearly impossible at this point. Which is a good thing of course...I just wish I had some winter clothes to wear that accentuate it. I have a ton of shirts that are all perfect for warm weather, which are not the most practical thing to wear right now. I meant to go shopping today for maternity sweaters but it just didn't happen. I got distracted by all the other stuff that is distracting me, and now I have no time or energy left in the day to make the thirty minute drive to Motherhood & Maternity. Oh well.

I feel like there is so much to do, it's overwhelming and instead of being proactive and accomplishing something, I go all OCD on everything at once, and nothing really gets done. We need to paint the baby's room. Oh but first, I need to get my ass off the couch and fill the TWO HUNDRED nail holes that are covering the surface of the walls (the last owners of this house apparently were hoader-types, and hung a lot of their hoards on the walls). And then after that is done, I need to clean the dust and dirt off the walls, but I really don't want to, because my winter rashy skin is already here and it will hurt to put my hands in a bucket of hot soapy water. White girl problems. I hope our baby isn't as sensitive as I am.

And I need to finish our baby registry. I haven't even step foot in a store and it's seriously overwhelming to even look online at stuff. How the hell should I know what is going to be useful right away? And how many bottles do we need? And nipples? Which ones???! Ahg...so many choices. What the hell comes and does not come with a breast pump? And can I just sanitize bottles in the dishwasher? Breast pumps are so expensive. I don't really want to technically ask someone to get one of those (or anything really pricey for that matter) but at the same time I know we probably could use a little help right about now, and a breast pump is one thing I shouldn't go without. Everything adds up so fast.,..it's painful to think about.

Anyway, this seems to be my brain, on pregnancy hormones. I am trying to nest but it seems very cluster-f***. Oh well!

I am going to go lie down now and get some kicks in with my baby. :)

 

20 Week Ultrasound

Cody and I patiently waited for yesterday to arrive; the day we got to see our little bundle of joy again for the first time in three whole months. While October is my favorite month, it was a rough one for me. The upcoming ultrasound was literally ALL I could think about since our last doctors appointment. Which of course set myself up for tons of jokes at work and home about my very apparent "pregnancy brain." Dropping stuff, tripping over things, distracted driving, forgetting the most obvious stuff ever. But it was and still is a real condition. Pregnancy Brain - my excuse for being semi-absentminded for the next 4.5 months. I'll take it.

Oh Hello, what are you doing up there?

Well the jig is up - It's a BOY!!! A beautiful little 11 oz. baby boy who was just as excited as we were yesterday; he wiggled and flipped through pretty much his entire sonogram. I think that may have had something to do with the sugary cereal and banana I ate right before we went to the appointment, topped off by a cup of coffee, but who knows.

I was not surprised at all when the ultrasound tech moved the wand over his legs and groin and we saw what were clearly the anatomical parts of a boy. A boy!!! I knew it the whole time, what'd I tell ya. I would've been thrilled with a girl too but I've always wanted a boy, and even forever ago I knew that I would have lots of them. So that makes a total of FIVE boys in the Law household now, if you count animals as members of the home, which we do. Cody, Oscar, Otto, Emmit, Mack, and now Baby.

I hope our second child is a girl, but I also have a feeling I''ll be cursed to a life of all boys. And I'm okay with that too. I like boys.

Also the best news of all is that everything on the ultrasound looked absolutely perfect. Two hands, two feet, fingers, toes, eyes, nose and mouth all visible. Brain and spinal anatomy were right where they should be, along with his weight (but how the hell do they know the weight???). I could feel a huge wave of relief roll over me when she said that and then got all teary eyed and sappy. And now here I am doing it all over again! Oh god haha.