Halfway there!

The Week 20 doctor's appointment went well. He's still in there and squirming around as they tried to hear the heartbeat. At least we have some evidence that he is actually moving in there. I am starting to think that I feel him moving around at times, but I'm still not 100% confident! I've felt the "air flutter" feeling that everyone keeps talking about but it hasn't happened much. I pushed into my abdomen yesterday and could have sworn that I felt something coming back at me, but who knows?! Maybe this is the week!

People are starting to tell me that I'm showing!!! I get really excited when that happens and can't wait until I look more "officially" pregnant! Other than occasional back pain, everything is going great!

We are getting together with both sets of parents on Thursday for dinner to celebrate David's birthday AND announce the name!!!

Weeks 20-22:



He has the same awake and sleep patterns of a newborn. He has a favorite position for sleep and recognizable active and rest periods.

He is swallowing amniotic fluid and his kidneys are making urine. After he takes in amniotic fluid, his body absorbs the water in the liquid and moves the rest into the large bowel.

His brain has entered a stage of rapid growth, especially in what's called the germinal matrix. This structure deep in the middle of the brain serves as a kind of factory for brain cells and disappears shortly before birth. But the brain's amazing expansion program continues until around the five birthday.

His testes begin their descent to the scrotum.

Eyelids, eyebrows, tongue, and fingernails are fully formed.

His legs are reaching their relative size. With the increase in muscle development, I should start feeling much more than tiny flutter kicks soon!

• Immunities are being transferred to him. These immune cells will protect him from viruses I've already had for up to six months after birth!

Scalp hair becomes apparent this week.

Week 19-20

I can't believe it will be 5 MONTHS on Wednesday! This past week was a fun one.

• We made the news "facebook official."
• We decided on a baseball decorated nursery! (Go figure.) We don't want it too overdone and themed-out though, so we are planning on getting the basics in blue, red, and neutral colors and then accenting around it all with baseball stuff! The bedding is just about complete. I bought a light blue breathable bumper, blue and white ruffle, mattress pad/covers, and baseball sheets! They are so cute with little balls and bats on them. Now all we have left is the mattress and we're done with all of the crib stuff.  
• We have the crib!... now we just need to put it together. It's a 4 in 1 convertible crib that can be a crib, toddler bed, daybed, and full size bed.
• We bought and assembled a cute dresser from Ikea! I ordered cute little baseball knobs online that should be arriving any day now.

 

• More packages keep coming with the more and more coupons I keep finding! We definitely will be set on diapers, wipes, baby lotion/wash for a while.

• My coworkers are so nice and made me a "finding out the gender" gift. Look how amazing this diapers cake is! It's decorated with various bibs and toys, and also a pacifier, comb, brush, and sunglasses.

 

• And lastly, I'm showing more @ 19 wks!!:

 

Week 18 Appt

The picture says it all!............

 

He's waving at us.

 

 

Scratching his forehead in thought.

 

 

 

The sonogram experience was AWESOME! The technician was very thorough and spent a good 30 minutes reviewing head to toe! We saw different parts of the brain forming, chambers of the heart, spine/ribs, blood flow, and organs! The measurements were all normal, and he's healthy looking with a strong heart beat at 161 bpm.

He did a few funny things while we were watching him. As we were looking for one of his hands, we found it on his crouch... just like a typical guy! He was doing chewing motions of the mouth, and also picked his nose, scratched his forehead, and waved a few times at us. His left hand was very active so of course David is set on him being a lefty like him now! It was such an amazing experience and I can't wait to start feeling him move soon!

17 weeks

I'm boycotting baby stores! With my recent psycho efforts to compare prices between all of the stores in a 30 mile radius that sell baby items, I have determined that online is the way to go. I'm loving amazon.com, and I've started to research which items we want on there!

Just as an example.... take a jumbo pack of 252-264 diapers that are size 1.

Babies R Us.................  $41.99

Target........................... $44.99

The price I paid online....$11.49

Yeah... what the heck! So if you become a member on Amazon.com in the baby section (which is free to do), you automatically get 30% off of diapers and wipes, and free 1-2 day shipping! In addition to that discount, you can stack multiple coupons on top of that. The coupons are easy to find and are in magazines that have free/cheap subscriptions or are accessible online. I'm not really sure what the catch is, but I'm going to try to order what I can now before these deals come to an end.   



We put the stroller together and love it! Thanks again, Dave & Cindy!  

Miley thinks that this is her new toy.

  

My belly is growing, and I've been insanely hungry the past week or 2. Fortunately I've been in the mood to eat a ton of fruit. I've even eaten a few FOOTLONG subs! The little guy is hungry at 17 wks!

 

Development for the Next 2 Weeks:

• The brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, vision, touch, and hearing. He may be startled by loud noises, i.e. dogs barking. He supposedly will be used to the dogs barking and less likely to be startled after birth!
• Alveoli, tiny air sacks, are forming in the lungs. Vocal chords are formed. He goes through the motions of crying, but without air, no sound is made.
• Sweat glands are forming.
• His arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of his body now.
• Hair on the scalp is sprouting.
• A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on the skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.
• The sketon is transforming from cartilage to bone.
• Meconium (composed of products of cell loss, digestive secretion and swallowed amniotic fluid), is accumulating in the bowel. This black gooey substance will become the first bowel movement- how exciting.....  

              

We also found out that our first screen results are negative! The liklihood of Down's/neural tube defects is apparently low, so that is good news!