21 of them weeks!

How far along? 21 weeks, 4 days
 
Total weight gain: Still not sure. I'm afraid I'm not gaining any, but trying not to worry about it. I'm eating as much as I can within the boundaries of the GD diet. Even figured out that I can have some ice cream (Lactaid variety of course) and peanut butter as my before bed snack. Yahoo!

Appointments: Nothing until April 16th.

How big is baby and what's new with her?

Little Miss P now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. She's practicing martial arts in mah belly. She likes to move and groove while I am sitting down at work and when I'm driving (and singing to her during these drives). She also likes to kick around while I'm listening to my nightly meditation podcasts on my ipod. We have a zen baby! Oh and they say that her eyebrows and eyelids are present now. :)

 

Clothing?  Doing well with what I've got. It cooled down again around here so I don't need to rush out and get shorts and ts yet.

Sleep? Sleep is still frustrating. The pee breaks happen every 2.5 hours. New thing going on is that my hands are asleep when I wake up during the night. I'm praying that this doesn't evolve into full blown carpal tunnel. That would be a drag.

Food Aversions? None!

Symptoms? Nausea has backed off again. :)   RLP isn't bad. Back hurts a bit more now as my bump gets bigger. You know what I do all of the time? Burp. I'm a burping machine.

Picture: You can't really see my bump in this shirt. It's there though. :)   Hasn't really changed size since last week.

Halfway there! 20 Weeks

How far along? 20 weeks, 5 days
 
Total weight gain: Not sure. I haven't stepped on the scale for a few days. I feel about the same though. Round.

Appointments: We don't have any appointments until April 16th now. Booo. I love hearing the heartbeat of the baby girl!

How big is baby and what's new with her?

She is getting used to all of her developing parts. She is moving around (and I can feel it! Like a little fishie swimming around in there. Coooooooool.)  She measures about 6 inches, about the length of an eggplant, and weighs about half a pound.  (That seems big! I'm sure it won't once she's the size of, I don't know, a bowling pin or whatever comes next.) Her hair and nails continue to grow and her limbs are well developed.

 

Clothing?  Now in need of t-shirts, shorts, and capris. It's such a warm Spring already!

Sleep? Don't need to sleep with the maternity belt right now - just the Boppy wedge under the bump and a pillow between my knees and ankles. But I do need to readjust all of those things when I get up to pee every 2 hours. Pee often = prep for motherhood. Well played, evolution or biology or what have you.

Food Aversions? None. :)

Symptoms? Nausea has come back a bit most days between the hours of 3:45 and 6:30. Rawr. Hoping this doesn't last long. RLP isn't too bad this week - nor is back pain. I'll take it!

Picture: 

19 weeks!

How far along? 19 weeks, 5 days
 
Total weight gain: Gained 2 lbs total since my positive pregnancy test. I'm actually happy about that. Baby needs nutrients - as does Mom.

Appointments: Had an appointment today with the OB. Everything looks good. I'm measuring right on track, baby's heartbeat is strong and in the 160s.

How big is baby? She weighs about 8 1/2 ounces and measures 6 inches, head to bottom — about the size of a large heirloom tomato. Her arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of her body now. Her kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on her scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on her skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.  (Nobody wants a pickled baby!)

Clothing?  Got a bunch of (8) shirts at Ann Taylor Loft this past weekend. Their new Spring line includes tons of peasant style shirts and flowy shirts with elastic waistbands. I was a happy, happy camper to leave the store with so many shirts that worked. They won't work for the whole pregnancy since they aren't truly maternity shirts and the bump will poke out eventually, but for now they're awesomesauce!! 

Sleep? Sleep time has kind of stunk lately. My hips have been hurting and so has my growing belly. The round ligament pain is fierce right now. I figured out that sleeping with the maternity belt (Godsend!!!) on and using the Boppy pregnancy wedge works really well.  The 'getting up to pee' thing is sort of out of control right now. I'm up probably 4-5 times each night still doing that. I thought that slowed down after the first tri. No such luck!

Food Aversions? None that I can think of, except I'm very sick of nuts and peanut butter courtesy of the GD diet. And I have a strong aversion to NOT having ice cream lately.

Symptoms? Only have nausea maybe 1 time per week - maybe. :)    New things: Hip pain, Charlie horses in my thighs, wicked Round Ligament Pain on right side, back pain. Just lotsa new pains.

Picture: One from the front this time. The side one made me look like a circle.

 

She's in there allright. Growing big and strong. :) 

18 weeks!

How far along? 18 weeks, 3 days


Total weight gain: I've actually lost 2 pounds since my last OB visit. That can be attributed to me following the GD diet. More on that below...

Appointments: We had our anatomy scan on Monday. It was amazing. Well, amazing aside from the new tech pressing on my side so hard with the ultrasound wand/gun/thingy that I ended up getting nauseous. But we found out we're having a girl. AAH! We are so so so excited. Mike is still sort of in shock since he was convinced that it was a boy, but he's still so happy and excited to meet our baby girl.  After the scan, we had an appointment with Maternalfetal Medicine to discuss my gestational diabetes. I'm doing ok controlling it through diet, but they actually want me to eat more and get more calories because I'm still hungry during the day. So I have to eat every two hours and load up my foods with fats when I can. I still have to be careful with carbs, but I've found that I can load those up during dinner with no ramifications. Woohoo! I'm going to have some fun eating more, I can tell you that. Although it of course is a fine line in regards to eating more and not having my sugar levels go up too high. Wish me luck not crossing that line!

How big is baby? Head to rump, baby girl is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and she weighs almost 7 ounces. She's busy flexing her arms and legs (We saw her do this during the ultrasound. So cute!). Her blood vessels are visible through her thin skin, and her ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from her head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around her nerves, a process that will continue for a year after she's born.

Clothing?  Went shopping this past weekend. Not fun. I'm not big enough in the bump area to look right in most maternity shirts. I ended up getting a cardigan and two blousy shirts. One is pictured below.

Sleep? Sleeping pretty good. I'm so used to getting up three times each night now. It's no big deal. Still miss sleeping on my stomach though. Sigh.

Food Aversions? Can't think of any. YAY!   (Although I'm pretty darn sick of peanut butter and eggs - my main protein sources)

Symptoms? Stomach still hurts most days but nothing too bad. New symptom = I can feel my hips expanding. It feels kinda crazy.

Picture: One from the front, one from the side this time.

Baby Girl deserves to have her picture included, too!