20 Weeks-Half Way There!

How far along? 20 Weeks!
Total weight gain/loss: officially weighed in at my Dr. appointment on Friday: in the words of my doctor, "you gained a whopping 5-6#!) from where I started in January! But since February I would say 8#! AND i eat a lot! Not sure why I am not gaining too fast yet!
Maternity clothes? once in awhile! I m still getting buy with stretchy cotton shirts!
Stretch marks? Nope!
Sleep: more restless lately...the boppy wedge my sister gave me is really helping support my little belly!
Best moment this week: Tim feeling the baby kick for the first time! Hearing his heartbeat again at our DR's appointment (147bpm) And shopping for our little guy plus learning how to knit little baby hats!
Have you told family and friends: Yes!
Miss Anything?  coffee and hot dogs!
Movement: some days he sure does like to move a lot more than others.
Food cravings: lemonade, chicken, blackberries, watermelon, pears
Anything making you queasy or sick:  Nope!
Have you started to show yet: YES! this is the first week where I feel like I don't have to blurt out to my patients that I'm pregnant, a lot of my new patients could guess right away!!!
Gender prediction: all BOY! 
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Very Happy!!

Looking forward to:  City wide garage this coming weekend and find some good deals on baby stuff!!

I can't believe we are already at the half way point and we will be able to meet our little boy in less than 20 weeks! It is crazy how fast this pregnancy has already gone! Im starting to feel a little round ligament pain after busy days at work, but hopefully this is only a phase?? We had our 20 week check up with our Dr. on Friday and everything is continuing to look good! She checked baby's heart beat which sounded nice and strong again! I also started knitting this week, a friend who is also having a little boy right around our due date gave me a tip to try and use the nifty knitter and it works awesome! I can whip out a little baby hat in 40 min or so! I might even try and knit an adult one for one of our friends! Tim and I have been getting our garage organized/cleaning out our house for the city wide garage sale next weekend, my parents will come down on Wednesday to help us out. Tim volunteered to hold down the fort while my mom and I go and look for cheap baby deals! I am also excited to hang out with my best friend Lexi tomorrow-- I'll be driving down to the cities to have lunch with her! 

19 Weeks!

   

                                                                       

How far along? 19 weeks!
Total weight gain/loss: +5#
Maternity clothes? still on and off! but my jeans are too tight now, have to wear maternity jeans
Stretch marks? Nope!
Sleep: not too bad! started to have a little intercostal pain after sleeping in my parent's guest room-- must have been the bed! 
Best moment this week: finding out our little baby is a healthy little baby boy!!! We cannot be more thrilled!!! AND being able to watch the little guy wiggle around for 45 min, most amazing experience ever!
Have you told family and friends: Yes!
Miss Anything?  my old jeans! and having a beer or a glass of wine! 
Movement: still fluttering going on! but I did feel a little more forceful flutter 1x!
Food cravings: melon, oreos, ice cream, lemonade and shirley temples!
Anything making you queasy or sick:  Nope!
Have you started to show yet:  yes!! i can still contract my core and keep it small :), but if i let it all out, my belly is a lot bigger than last week!
Gender prediction: my dad and cassidy were right!! ITS A BOY! :)
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Very Happy!!

Looking forward to:  Starting to work on the nursery and buying little boy things in the next 4 months!!

At our ultrasound, the US tech stated our baby is in the 64th percentile, he is 10 oz, and she said the US due date is 9/9/12! But then our Dr.'s office called and said the US results looked perfect and the due date will remain 9/13/12 (he must be a little bigger)! After our big week and finding out the gender, I left for Grand Forks for my nephew Carter's Baptism! He was such a good little guy during his baptism and didn't cry once!  Here is Carter with his Godparents and parents!

Cousin Summer, Robbie,  Brother in law Tony, sister Cassidy, baby Carter, and my little brother Scott

My whole family (minus Tim who had to work)

ITS A.....

Tim and I had one of the most wonderful experiences today-- having our ultrasound and being able to see our little BOY wiggling around for around 45 min! We weren't sure if we were going to have the US tech keep it secret and stick it an envelope and we would celebrate and find out later, but it was really too late..the image above was the first thing that popped up! I knew before she even told me the gender it was a boy!!! Once I told the tech i was a physical therapist, she took tons of photos and labeled each of his bones for us...even his clavicle, iliac crests, tibia, and fibula! It was so amazing how developed our baby is already!!! Tim and  I both started tearing up a little bit when we were watching him - what a miracle! We are so in love with him already!

Week 18!

How far along? 18 Weeks 2 days
Total weight gain/loss: yay! 2-3# weight gain!
Maternity clothes?  normal shirts, wearing the pants more and more!
Stretch marks? Nope!
Sleep: a lot better this week!
Best moment this week: hearing the heart beat once again, feeling the baby move every day, lots of fluttering going on these day!  AND getting to schedule our ultrasound to find out the gender!
Have you told family and friends: Yes!
Miss Anything?  not that i can think of right now!
Movement: lots of fluttering this week! especially after eating chocolate, ice cream, and ice water!
Food cravings: strawberries, taco pizza, chocolate chip pancakes, blizzards!
Anything making you queasy or sick:  Nope!
Have you started to show yet:  yep! still not sure if strangers think I am pregnant or just have a big beer belly!
Gender prediction: Oh man! After hearing the heart beat last Friday decrease from 167 to 147, might be a boy! BUT coworkers had me lay down and perform the wedding ring test, which showed a girl! who knows-- we will see in 4 days!!!!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Very Happy!!

Looking forward to: So much! But mainly our Dr. appointment on April 18th where we can find out the gender!!!! We are so excited and cannot wait to know the sex!

Easter photo- showing a little bump!

Our Girl or Boy? Easter Egg

This week has been a busy one! Tim and I had a Dr.'s appointment on Friday April 6th, right before head back to Grand Forks for Easter. The Dr. said our little bean was moving around a ton! We were able to listen to the baby's heart beat once again and it decreased from 162 to 147! Our Dr. said its pretty common depending on what the baby was doing and as I get farther along the heart beat should decrease anyways! But my sister said with both her boys, the heart rate was in the 160's and then decreased to 140's -- her new prediction: boy! We would be super excited and blessed to have either! :) We also were about 5 days behind with our daily progress and were actually at 17 weeks 1 day - we had thought we were only 16 weeks along! Works for me!! THEN our doctor said we can schedule our gender ultrasound anytime after Thursday April 12th, we picked April 18th!! I will be just short of 19 weeks!!!!

After the appointment, Tim and I drove up to Grand Forks for Easter weekend and were able to spend a lot of time with my family! We colored Easter eggs with Logan, went to the Alerus Center for a big huge Easter hunt, baby sat little Carter (learned a lot that night!!!) and were able to spend time at the nursing home with my Grandma Carroll and Grandpa Bernie. My grandma took 2nd place in Wii bowling!! It was a short trip but very eventful! We have a busy April ahead of us!

 Logan at the Easter egg hunt!

16 Weeks!

How far along? 16 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 1# weight gain from last week
Maternity clothes?  maternity pants are becoming pretty comfortable, but still am able to wear my normal shirts
Stretch marks? Nope! still using preventive creams (who knows if they work!)
Sleep: a little more restless this week,  I bought a cheap body pillow at Walmart which seems to help!
Best moment this week:  On Sunday,  I just started to feel little fluttering/popcorn popping feeling going on by my R rib cage region-- yay!! first baby movement!
Have you told family and friends: Yes!
Miss Anything?  having a beer with BBQing-- with the nice weather we have been grilling out a lot!
Movement: little fluttering going on here and there!
Food cravings: cantaloupe, sour jelly beans, red grapes, doughnuts!
Anything making you queasy or sick:  Nope!
Have you started to show yet:  yep! getting a little bigger every day
Gender prediction: Craving sour jelly beans now makes me think it could be a boy! Still leaning towards girl though
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy- but bloated!

Looking forward to: Finding out the gender-- I have a Dr. appointment this Friday- I called ahead and was wondering since Ill be closer to 17 weeks if we can schedule the ultrasound on Friday as well- but the nurse stated nope! Not til mid April!!! I suppose we can wait awhile longer.... :)

Wow! I can't believe we are already at 4 months! Ive had quite the easy pregnancy so far with only brief morning sickness very early in the first trimester. I was just telling friends today that I am a really enjoying being pregnant!!! This past weekend I helped host a wedding shower for a coworker and then I cleaned out my entire closet and packed away some of my work pants that no longer fit me and decided to go on a  little shopping spree in the cities! I found lots of good deals on maternity clothes-- especially at thrift stores and consignment shops!! I even found a pair of lucky maternity jeans for 10 bucks at a thrift store!!! I googled the same pair and they are selling for over $100 on ebay(used)!! What a steal!  Also, the cashier at old navy could not believe the maternity clothes I was buying were for me, he said "wow, how come you are so small still!" Maybe me feel pretty good since I feel like Im getting bigger and bigger!!!

We are also getting ready for the big Hutchinson city wide garage in a month, and found my parents are going to come down and help us get ready for the big sale (and by that time- we will know the gender (mid April) of our little avocado!!!-- which means lots of good deals at garage sales that weekend as well!)  Happy Easter Everyone!!