20 week ultrasound

It's a girl!!!!

Measuring 50th percentile for everything - weight, femur length, head circumference, etc.  Normal size and location of placenta, normal 3 vessel umbilical cord.

SOOO amazing!

I thought for sure I was having a boy so I was thrown for a loop - but a happy one!  I was secretly hoping for a girl.

18 1/2 weeks!

I can't believe I'm 18 1/2 weeks pregnant!  OMG!

And to celebrate 50 followers (wow, I can't believe anyone cares what I have to say!) I have decided to put a photo up on this anonymous blog of mine - I will probably take it down in a few days but I thought you would all like to see my bump!

(removed)

It was taken this past Saturday on the day of my hubby's doctorate graduation :)

Things are going really well here.  I feel good - almost no nausea unless I let myself get too hungry, I have energy to clean/cook/shop/work etc.., I feel movement daily and I just have an overall feeling of health!  Even though I have been craving and eating some bad things (ice cream, chips, burgers) I am also eating plenty of fruits and vegetables.  So it all evens out, right?

8 days until our 20 week ultrasound!

16 week appt

I know my pregnancy posts are getting boring...and if you're still in the trenches fighting IF please know that it will not hurt my feelings if you stop reading my posts for awhile.  I so understand...I avoided some preg after IF blogs for a few months when times were tough.  Just know I love you and am rooting for you.

I had my 16 week check up today and it was perfect! I'll do bullets to update:

• I am down another half a pound (so down 1 lb total from pre IVF weight).  YAY!  I started out about 30 lbs overweight so I am so happy I'm not out of control.  The Nurse Practitioner asked me if I had any diarrhea or vomiting and I said, "Nope, not once this whole pregnancy, just dry heaves."  So she said I'm good!  Her only worry was whether I was eating and drinking enough.  BOY am I!  I drink water constantly (and a couple of iced teas a day) and eat probably anywhere from 2000-3000 cals a day (probably 2300 approx usually, more if it is a 'sweets' day:).  
• Heartbeat was wonderful.  Quote from the NP, "What a nice, strong heartbeat".
• My uterus is about two fingerbreadth's below my navel (which equals about 18 weeks) so I'm measuring about 2 weeks ahead (normal is 2 weeks either way so I guess I'm growing a biggie...maybe that's where all the calories are going!).
• My urine sample was negative....no protein, no glucose (so far so good..I am deathly afraid of gestational diabetes only because some days all that sounds good are carbs....if I had to be carb restricted I think I'd cry!).
• B/P 116/70
• My M.R.S.A. swab from last visit was negative (I have had one Methicillin Resistant Staph Aureus abscess in my life so because of that I need to be tested 3 times to make sure I'm not colonized...if any of the 3 come back positive I will be in isolation when I deliver...LOL).

All in all a perfect visit.  She even kinda sucked up to me it seemed...said that I was going to have the perfect pregnancy - not too big during all of this ridiculous heat and by the time I'm huge it will be winter. This visit was really good for my self esteem!

Next visit in 4 weeks will be for the 20 week ultrasound!  I CANNOT WAIT to find out what we're having!  I go back and forth on what gender I'm hoping for so clearly I am happy with whatevs!!

I STARTED FEELING MOVEMENT A FEW DAYS AGO!  AHHHH!  COOLEST THING EVAH!  Enough caps, I know.  It totally doesn't feel like butterfly wings to me.  Feels like a fingertip tapping lightly.  SO amazing!  I only notice it lying flat or just after sitting.  

Oh and for those of you that want a bump pic...I don't know what it is, I haven't taken a single one.  Not even for my private eyes.  I'm certainly not ashamed...maybe just feeling guilty?  A couple of weeks ago my too small tank top was riding up in front and DH said, "You're showing!" and I tugged my shirt back down and felt weird - like my heart started beating funny and I blushed.  It feels so personal.  Maybe when I get bigger and used to it I will take some pics and post a few?  Maybe I have PTSD from infertility? :)

ONE LAST THING (damn this is a long rambling post, you deserve an award for reading this whole thing if you are:).  We picked a nursery color!  It is a very light light green with a hint of blue, perfect for either sex.  Paint was on sale at Sherwinn-Williams so we got it.  Now DH just needs to paint!

xoxo

Bump

I feel like in the span of 3 days I went from looking chubby to looking pregnant.  But I think it's too early for me to have 'popped'.  Hmm.  Maybe it's all the fiber bars I've been eating (which has totally saved my life from const. hell :).  

My family is coming into town today-I'm so stoked!  They haven't seen me pregnant so I am wearing maternity clothes today for maximum bump effect :)

I know my blog has become a boring pregnancy blog.  I'm sorry.  I still feel infertile and I don't think that's ever gonna change.  

I hope that all of my dear infertile sisters in the blogging world will one day get a chance to publish a boring pregnancy blog.  It's really something.

So obsessed with this stroller...

So we bought it yesterday!  Talk about jinxing myself, I am now addicted to buying baby stuff :)

Here is a link to it - http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=eddie+bauer+trailmaker+travel+system&hl=en&safe=active&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=4589943445580094759#

It was on clearance at Target.  I love it because it's modern, gender neutral and VERY EASY to fold up.  Also I am already sick of pastels and this is a bold pattern. 

I never thought buying a stroller would be so damn much fun!

Skittish

A friend of mine gave me a huge bag of maternity clothes today - and they are all washed, dried and hung up in my closet.

I bought a boppy maternity sleeping pillow today.

And I wonder if I'm jinxing myself? 14 weeks today and (knock on wood) so far so good!

2nd trimester

So I am beginning the 2nd trimester - either today at 13 weeks or next week at 14 weeks, depending on the source.

This is supposed to be the magical trimester, right?  Oh I hope so :)  I can definitely tell a difference between now and a few weeks ago.  The nausea is occurring less often, is less intense and almost never causes dry heaves anymore.  If this constipation would just abate then life would be perfect.  Thanks for all of your advice friends.  It really helped!  I pretty much cleaned myself out with 3 stool softeners, 2 fiber pills, and a max dose of milk of magnesia.  2 weeks ago I did just about the same thing.  Now I just want to prevent it from getting that bad again.  The hubs and I are both on a mission to get me as much fiber each day as possible - fiber cereal, fiber one bars, etc.  I hope it helps.

Big news - I am showing more and more each day.  My belly has always been flabby, I gain weight like a man - in my beer gut :)  But now there is a definite bump with definition to the lower abdomen.  I have found myself purposely wearing clothes that accentuate it - so much fun!

3 weeks until our next appt, 7 weeks to the next ultrasound.  If it wasn't for the doppler I would absolutely lose my mind.  I check in on the bambino a few times  a week - it is so much easier to find the heartbeat now than it was at 10 1/2 weeks which is awesome!

I hope everyone is having a good summer.  All in all this is the best summer of my life thus far.  I remember last summer - a good friend visited me while she was 18 weeks pregnant.  I tried to have fun, I tried (and mostly successfully) to be happy for her, but I was so unbelievable jealous.  That was in August.  This August I will be 18 weeks pregnant.  It is just mind-blowing.

xoxoxo