22 Weeks!

Not quite as exciting as our ultrasound on Monday, but here's the weekly belly shot!  He's getting bigger everyday and I feel more and more movement!  Last night I was lying on the couch and felt his hiccups again.  Of course by the time I told Matthew they were over.  Such a cool feeling though!
This weekend it's off to Southern Indiana for my grandma's 90th birthday!  So glad she is still going strong!  Should be a fun trip, especially since I'm quite a bit bigger than the last time I saw everyone :-)

Cartoon

Well I saw this on our fertility clinic's Facebook page and I couldn't resist reposting!  It made me laugh.  Very true though!

 

It's a...

Well it's official...we're Team Blue!  Baby Boy gave us a very clear shot of the family jewels today!  If he hadn't been so forthcoming I never would've believed the ultrasound tech.  She froze the screen, pointed out each leg and said "This is what you're interested in...any guesses?"  I could tell instantly what it was, and said it's a boy!  She said, yep, he's all boy, no question about that!  She continued with the anatomy scan, measuring various body parts, listened to his heartbeat, and even switched the scan over to a 3D scan for a while!  We got a great little picture of his profile!  Since the pictures are more exciting than my rambling I'll stop now and let the pics do the talking for me!



Profile Shot...His arm is across his eyes



It's a boy!



Team Blue!





Heart Rate 145 beats/minute!



Another First!

I love being in the 2nd trimester!  There are so many new things I am experiencing all the time with the pregnancy.  I've been feeling movement every day for a couple of weeks now, and it's becoming very frequent.  I love the feeling of little Baby K swimming all over in his/her private pool :o) 

Well yesterday was another first in the movement department.  Matthew was able to feel the baby move for the first time!  We were having a relaxing day at home, lying on our bed watching tv and Baby K started dancing all over.  I moved my hand to my lower belly and continued to feel him/her move all over.  I told Matthew to put his hand right where my fingertips were.  He kept it there for what seemed like forever and finally Baby gave him a nice "Hi Dad!" kick.

There have been a few times recently when I was able to feel the baby from the outside when it was kicking and moving around, but it never lasted long enough for Matthew to feel it.  I was really glad he could finally feel some movement.  He was a little surprised it was still such a small feeling.  I told him not to worry, it wouldn't be long before we were seeing feet kicking me and he'd have no trouble feeling movement. 

Tomorrow is the big day...anatomy scan (gender) day!  Hopefully Baby is not shy and shows us the goods!  What will we be...Team Pink or Team Blue?!?!

21 Weeks!

I'm getting better!  Finally getting back on track and posting the weekly pictures on time.  Yea!  This week has been thoroughly exhausting.  School has started again, and the beginning of Kindergarten is always tiring, but it's a whole new level of tired when pregnant.  17 kids is a great number.  I'm really lucky to have such a small class, but wow am I worn out by the end of the day...ok who am I kidding I'm worn out WELL BEFORE the end of the day!  I do think my class is kind of excited to have a pregnant teacher.  We were drawing pictures of ourselves yesterday on the first day of school and they thought I needed to draw the baby in my belly, then they told me they want to know if it's a boy or girl as soon as I find out, and today one of my boys asked if I'd bring the baby to school once it was born, so they could see it.  It's been pretty cute I must say. 

Monday is the big day!  The (hopeful) gender reveal!  Only a few more days, and we can't wait!  Stay tuned!  So until then, here's this week belly pic.  I feel like it has really popped in the last week :o)

Hiccups!

No I'm not getting excited about my own hiccups...Baby K had the hiccups this morning, and I felt them for the first time!  I had just rolled over, and was trying to go back to sleep when I started to feel what I thought were kicks below and to the left of my belly button.  The longer I laid there, the more even and patterned the movements became.  There were around 10 little thumps in a row.  I've read that hiccups have a distinct repetitive pattern just like this, so then I moved my hand and put it right over my belly and was able to feel the last one from the outside!  Of course once I put my hand there they stopped.  Never fails :o)  It was such a great way to wake up, even if it was only 5:45!

20 Weeks! Half way already!

I can't believe we've made it this far already.  20 weeks, the half way point!  It really seems like we were just finishing up the IVF cycle and waiting on the beta results!  I have to be completely honest, I've loved being pregnant!  Granted my pregnancy has gone so smoothly that I don't think anyone could complain if they had a pregnancy like this.  At times I feel guilty that it's been so easy.  Many, many women have the complete and total opposite experience.  1-2 days of nausea is all I experienced.  As long as I had food nearby and could keep something on my stomach I felt great.  The "worst" (and I use that term very loosely) has been the exhaustion.  Like I needed another excuse to take a nap in the afternoons!  :o) 

I can't believe how fast the first half of the pregnancy has gone.  I'm sure the second half will be the same, well maybe up until the last few weeks anyway!  A week and a half left and we'll have our next ultrasound and hopefully Baby K is cooperative and shows us the goods!  I can't wait to find out whether we're team pink or blue!

Here's this week's token belly pic.  I think it might be slightly skewed...I did just eat a Blizzard from DQ before taking this.  Oops!  :o)  Hey, the baby needs calcium right?!?!?!

19 Weeks!

I'm only a few days behind posting this week :o)  The exciting news now is I'm definitely feeling movement from the inside!  It's still small so I usually only feel it if I'm lying down or sitting still, but I've felt quite a bit in the afternoons this week!
I've been going to school everyday to get my room set up, which means I've been busy all day long.  When I get home and finally get to relax on the couch Baby K is moving all over the place!  It isn't little flutters anymore but more like pokes straight to my abdomen.  I was telling Matthew about it the other night and his first question was if it felt cool or weird and creepy.  :o)  Definitely cool!  I can't wait until it can be felt from the outside so he can feel it too.
Less than a week to go and we are half way!  I really can't believe the half way point is almost here.  I feel like it's going so fast!  Then again, by December I will probably be singing a VERY different tune!

Anyway...here is this week's pic! I'm not noticing a huge difference between each picture, but I'm sure that will change before long!

18 Week Pic, Check-up, and Chicago Trip

I'm REALLY slacking this week! The picture was taking at 18 weeks, but I'm several days behind in posting. Matthew and I went to Chicago for the weekend. He had some work appointments to do around the city, and since I'm still on summer break for a little while longer, we decided to spend the weekend away for our anniversary. Tomorrow (8/2) is our 3rd anniversary. We haven't been able to leave Peoria for the past two years due to commitments he had through the Bradley Alumni Association. Since the alumni stuff was moved to a different weekend we decided to take the opportunity to have a weekend away from home. It was also kind of like our last hurrah before baby.

We had quite the busy weekend. Thursday was my 18 week appt. I saw one of the doctors in the practice for the first time. He was really nice, and I liked him a lot. He listened to Baby's heartbeat (154 bpm!) asked if I've felt any movement yet (I think I have been, yea!) and answered my questions. I had a blood draw done to test for potential chromosomal defects, and was on my way. Three more weeks until our anatomy scan and HOPEFULLY finding out, in the words of soon-to-be Auntie Cindy, what flavor Baby K is. August 22nd is the big day! I can't wait :o) Friday morning we got up early and headed up towards Chicago. Matthew did his work audits and I found various ways to occupy my time while he was busy with work obligations. I found some great deals on baby clothes, so I bought 3 adorable outfits, even though we don't know what the baby technically is yet. But when they were only $6 per outfit, it's really hard to pass up! Once he finished with both appointments we made our way into the city to our hotel, grabbed dinner and relaxed. Saturday we went to Shedd Aquarium, browsed stores on Michigan Ave. and had the most AMAZING dinner at a seafood restaurant downtown Chicago. We walked along the river and just enjoyed some "us" time. Sunday we made our way out to the suburbs to stay with one of Matthew's good friends from college. Today was Matthew's final work obligation, so after he finished, we went to one of the biggest malls out in the suburbs for lunch and a little more shopping, then it was time to head home.

Well now after much rambling about our weekend, here is the week 18 picture! I will try to do MUCH better about getting week 19's pic up in a reasonable amount of time :o)