Week 16

So far I have gained about 3 pounds! Not that I'm trying for a moderate weight gain vs exponential, but I read that a slower weight gain decreases those chances of getting nasty stretch marks! Baby eats when Baby's hungry too, so I'm definitely not holding back. Cravings are sooooooooo strange! They can change hourly on what I want to eat! So far some of the big favorites have been french onion soup, cinnamon, twice baked potatoes, strawberry starbursts (I eventually eat all of the colors anyway), oranges, caramel apples, baked ziti, and broccoli salad. Some food aversions (yes those happen too!) have been meat in general (especially steak) and processed foods in general. I don't think they settle well so we don't like them!

It's very exciting to be done with the first trimester! I'm finally gaining some energy back after building Baby's placenta. Too bad it'll go to waste in the end. Last Saturday I stayed up until 11:30! That's a record of recent. Also I'm finally getting a little baby bump! To most people it probably looks like I ate a lot for lunch, but to me I know what's really growing down there! Baby belly pictures will come soon. I need to buy a really really stretchy shirt that will endure expansion for the next 6 months.

Week 15

I decided to take a stab at blogging to keep everyone up-to-date on all the happenings as Dan and I prepare for our growing family!

I'll start by telling you how this all started...just kidding. We all know how that happened! I'll just start with what's happening now. Last week we went in for our second ultrasound and nuchal test. This is where the doc checks for down syndrome and other abnormalities by measuring the width of baby's brain fluid (via ultrasound) and drawing my blood. Then they put it in a complicated formula to determine if there's an increased probability that our baby will have down syndrome. With our excellent gene pool (thanks Mom, Dad, Janine and Dan) our family history will not increase our chances.

Baby was definitely not cooperating during the ultrasound! Until we find out if it'll be a boy or girl in couple weeks, I'm not going to refer to the baby as he or she; I'll just say 'Baby'. Baby needed to be perfectly flat for an accurate measurement. After 4 ultrasounds over 3 and a half hours Baby finally cooperated! Despite the long doc visit, we had a lot of one on one time with the monitor that let us peer into Baby's world. We heard Baby's heartbeat for the first time at 150 bpm and saw Baby kicking and moving constantly. Baby was also very melodramatic! The left arm was always floating above Baby's head or on Baby's forehead. (Dan sleeps with his right arm over his head and I'm left handed...so we decided the trait is a combo).