Thursday, September 11, 2014

Pregnancy Recap: Weeks 17-23

I've officially caught up to real-life time with these updates... I'm 23 weeks today!

Week 17:
Big week this week! I had my first real pregnancy craving - for crab rangoons. So random, but it was like I could smell them as if they were sitting on my desk at work, and I wanted to eat them SO BADLY! Haha. We had our second doctor's appointment and heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time (152 bpm!). I've gained 7 pounds, and my belly is measuring a week ahead of schedule. All the blood work that they did because of my high blood pressure came back perfect, so that was wonderful to hear. Nausea returned a bit starting this weekend, and I threw up on Tuesday for the first time in ten days. I guess I'm not done with that stage of pregnancy quite yet!

The biggest news of all: IT'S A BOY! We did an elective ultrasound on Saturday, and the ultrasound tech was able to tell us that we're going to have a son! His heart was beating at 143 bpm, and his little feet are 2 cm long (which actually seems pretty big to me, compared to his tiny body!). We surprised our families with the "it's a boy" news, and we're all very excited! We have a name all picked out too (will share soon!)!

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It's a Boy! Read about how we shared the news with our families here!
Week 18:
The baby went to his first (and probably last) bachelorette party. His daddy was very proud. I don't think he's supposed to be able to hear yet, but he moves a LOT when there's loud music! I developed a horrible sore throat this week, which would've had me saying I "wasn't feeling well" pre-pregnancy, but I didn't feel nauseous or throw up this week, so I was feeling GREAT! I'm drinking tons and tons of milk. Can't get enough! So weird.

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Baby's 1st Bachelorette Party (and Mama's 1st Pregnancy-Friendly Swimsuit)

Week 19:
The Good: Jeff felt the baby move for the first time on August 8th! So fun to finally share those little movements with him! The Bad: Nausea has returned, unfortunately (right after I got comfortable enough to take the gallon-sized Ziplocs out of all my purses... ick).

I feel like I keep going through cycles where my belly just feels super full and tight and uncomfortable, and then the belly has a growth spurt and looks way bigger and my insides don't feel so squished anymore, and then my belly feels all tight and uncomfortable again, and then I get bigger, repeat, repeat.

I bought baby this little hat... so cute!

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Week 20:
Wow. We're officially halfway done with this pregnancy! I can't believe how fast it's gone, and I think it's starting to go by even faster now that I'm getting sick less often. We did the anatomy ultrasound on August 19th at the doctor and confirmed (1) that he's definitely a boy, and (2) that everything else looks good! We also learned that he's measuring in the 90th percentile for weight!

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Here's what we got instead of a cute profile shot... two arms and two legs all in front of his face!

It kind of freaks me out that I might end up having to deliver a huge baby, but mostly it's just comforting to know that he's growing big and strong (especially since I have a significant chance of pre-term labor/induction due to my blood pressure issues). They weren't able to get a good look at his heart, so we'll do another ultrasound at my 24-week appointment. I'm really missing iced tea this week for some reason, but Jeff found some diet decaf sweet tea at the grocery store. Best husband ever!

Week 21:
We painted the nursery with the help of Jeff's dad! It was by far our easiest painting job to date (probably due to having an extra set of hands and the ceilings being lower in the nursery), and it looks so bright and cheery in there! We picked Valspar's "Distant Valley." It's like a light aqua.

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Despite throwing up a couple times this week, I'm loving being pregnant right now! I can't get enough of the little baby kicks/punches, and I love that I'm actually starting to look pregnant to strangers (I think). Some sweet friends of ours bought baby this adorable Gamecocks/Aggies onesie:

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I'm still squeezing into regular clothes for work mostly, but I think it's not going to last for more than another week or two. My poor pencil skirts just can't stretch anymore!

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Week 22:
We took a trip to South Carolina to visit Jeff's parents, and it was kind of fun to show off my growing belly to the family. :) My future sister-in-law Emily got to feel the baby kick my belly, which was fun as well!

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When we were in the airport coming home, one of the TSA agents exclaimed "you've got a little baby in there!" when I turned sideways to do the little security scan. It was the first time (and only time so far) that someone who didn't already know said something about me being pregnant, which was kind of exciting!

It seems like time is really flying by. I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed at all the things we need to do before January! I have about seven different to-do lists in progress! Still though, I am absolutely loving looking forward to having our little baby in our arms.

Week 23:
Nothing particularly new to report this week, except that I'm just feeling so blessed and full of joy that I'm carrying this baby and counting down the weeks until he joins us on the outside. Pregnancy is an amazing thing.

Sometimes I think about when Jeff and I were first falling in love, and how we imagined that one day in the far-away future we'd live in a little house and get to raise a little baby of our very own, and I remember the years when we were dating long-distance, and I remember how badly we just wanted to wake up together every morning and see each other smile in person every day, and I just start to get all emotional and teary-eyed because y'all... here I am, living in my own little dream world, every day. I'm married to my very best friend who brings so much joy to my life every day, and I have our son somersaulting around in my quickly-expanding belly, and life is just the most wonderful, joyful thing. :)

2 comments:

  1. You look fantastic! Glad everything is going smoothly (aside from the sickness).

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  2. Does his name start with a C then? You can't tease us like that and just leaving us hanging for a week!!

    ReplyDelete