Week 22: Oh, Baby!

This week I sure have been spoiled by getting to squeeze lots of cute, chubby baby legs! Over the course of the week I saw two month old baby Wesley, three month old baby Charlie, and ten month old baby Jonah. I about died from all the cuteness, gummy smiles, and tiny fingers and toes. It was so great to spend time with friends who are new moms and learn more about what is on their "must have" list of baby gear and about life with a baby in general. I can't wait to meet our little boy in a few months!

Overall, I still feel great. Sleeping is starting to get a little more uncomfortable, though, but fortunately I have found a few things that have helped. I usually start the night with a pillow between my legs, but it tends to get pushed on to the floor at some point in the night. I also learned that if I pull my knees up or sit up a little bit when I roll over that it puts less strain on my belly and hips. I'm only going to get bigger from here so I guess it's good to start figuring some of this out now!

The baby is starting to get a bit more active and I feel him move just about every day instead of once a day or once every few days. Most of his movements are pretty small, but the ones strong enough to feel from the outside are increasing and Ben has even been able to feel him once or twice. Fun!

Here's what the baby is up to this week:


At 11 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. His lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums. His eyes have formed, but his irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment.


If you could see inside your womb, you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his body and the deep wrinkles on his skin, which he'll sport until he adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside his belly, his pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.


He's as long as a sheet of paper! Wowza.... getting bigger by the day!

Week 21: The Nursery

Not much new to report on the pregnancy front! I'm still feeling great and getting rounder by the day. :-)

We started looking at cribs and dressers for the nursery online this week and found some good, reasonably priced options. Our neighborhood has a community-wide yard sale next weekend. There is usually a lot of kid stuff for sale so we may hold off and check the yard sales before we purchase anything new. If we don't see anything, though, nursery furniture will probably be ordered soon! Yay!

As far as colors and "theme" for the nursery go (for all the inquiring grandmothers out there- haha), we are going to keep the walls the current tan color and use navy blue as our main color for accessories. We decided we wanted something that didn't look too baby-ish and could grow with him so we don't have to completely redecorate his room in a few years. Also, high contrast colors are good for eyesight and brain development for infants.

We'll probably frame and hang up a few small vintage/retro feeling outer space posters, but do want to avoid cartoon-y/baby or realistic looking space stuff and anything branded (i.e., Star Wars, Disney, etc.). Our son is going to be exposed to a lot of marketing in his lifetime and we certainly don't need to increase that exposure at home!

Probably something along these lines:




And/Or perhaps some that look like old comic book covers like this:




Here's what the baby is up to this week:

Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. You may soon feel like she's practicing martial arts as her initial fluttering movements turn into full-fledged kicks and nudges. You may also discover a pattern to her activity as you get to know her better. In other developments, your baby's eyebrows and lids are present now.

Week 20: Halfway There!

It's hard to believe, but we're halfway through the pregnancy. In about 20 short weeks our SON will be in our arms instead of in my belly! Needless to say the biggest news of the week was finding out that we are having a boy. The rest of the ultrasound went great, too, and according to the pros he is "perfect".  :-)  They can't exactly weigh him while he's still inside, but his estimated weight is around 12 ounces and his heart rate was about 137 bpm. We asked why it was so much lower than our nine week ultrasound (when it was 178 bpm) and the tech told us that the baby's heartbeat slows down as it gets bigger. Unfortunately he was laying face down and even after some belly jiggling we couldn't get him to turn. With that, we didn't get a good profile picture but it was still pretty cool to see something that actually looks like a baby instead of a blob! We have to get another ultrasound done in eight to ten weeks so hopefully he'll cooperate at that appointment so we can get a good view of his profile.

Here are a few ultrasound photos from the big day!

Proof that it's a boy. :-)

Apparently this is an image of the baby's face on the right side... we don't really see it. You can make out an arm and hand, though, along the top!

Cute little foot! (We saw his feet together at one point, so we know there are two!)

A sort of profile shot... as I mentioned earlier, he was laying face down so they couldn't get a very good view of his profile. We were relieved to find out that our son does not really have the profile of a monkey. :-) 

Not surprisingly we've gotten quite a few questions about names. We have it narrowed down to about three names we like (one of them may become a middle name) and we are planning to keep it a secret until the baby is born. That way, we have freedom to change our minds and it eliminates unsolicited "feedback" on our choice (at least to our faces- haha).

I sent an email out with our "It's a Boy!" photo and nearly every mother of a son wrote back with something along the lines of, "Boys are the best!" "Boys sure do love their mama's!".  One also added, "Don't buy anything new because it's going to get broken." Wise advice. :-)  We have had fun referring to the baby as "him" (or by one of the names we like!) instead of just "the baby" or "the kid". I have a feeling scenes like this one may be happening at our house in a few years!

Here's what our baby boy is up to these days:


Your baby weighs about 10 1/2 ounces now. He's also around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel — the length of a banana. (For the first 20 weeks, when a baby's legs are curled up against his torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of his head to his bottom — the "crown to rump" measurement. After 20 weeks, he's measured from head to toe.)


He's swallowing more these days, which is good practice for his digestive system. He's also producing meconium, a black, sticky by-product of digestion. This gooey substance will accumulate in his bowels, and you'll see it in his first soiled diaper (some babies pass meconium in the womb or during delivery).


I guess our little guy is a little ahead of the curve since his estimated weight is around 12 ounces and the general weight listed above is 10 1/2 ounces! Apparently I'm a bit ahead of the curve, too, as I gained a bunch of weight all of a sudden (nearly seven pounds in two weeks!). I haven't changed any eating or exercise habits during that time frame, so we're guessing it was just a growth spurt or something. According to my research the jump is okay as long as it's not consistently happening. At this point I'm supposed to roughly gain one pound a week through the end of the pregnancy (for a total weight gain of 25 to 35 pounds overall). The next appointment is in four weeks and I'll probably ask about it just to be sure everything is okay. My belly is definitely round at this point (more so in maternity clothes than in the picture below) and even strangers are commenting that I'm pregnant! Previously I would just get stares as if they were thinking, "Man, that lady needs to lighten up on eating so many cupcakes!"

(FYI- allergies were acting up... I promise I wasn't crying before this photo!)

Snips and snails and puppy dog tails!

Week 19: Switch-a-Roo

House preparations for the baby have begun! In the upstairs of our house we have three small bedrooms, a bathroom, and a linen closet (the master bedroom and bathroom is on the main level). Since we've been married, two of the rooms have been used as offices and the third has been used as a guest room. Now that it's time to make a space for the baby we're doing a little switch-a-roo of the upstairs! Ben's current office is the largest of the three rooms and overlooks the back yard. The room straight across the hall is my office and the room at the end of the hall is the guest room which both overlook the front yard and driveway. At first we planned to make the guest room the nursery, but due to its size (long and narrow with slanted ceilings on either size) and location over the garage we decided it wasn't optimal. Also, I was paranoid that we'd bump the baby's head on the low, slanted ceilings when we were getting him/her out of the crib or off the changing table. Ben, being the wonderful and generous guy that he is, is going to move his office into the guest room and his current office is going to become the baby's room. This will give us more space for nursery furniture, allow space on the floor for playtime, and it will be right across from my office which will be convenient as I work from home. The room is right at the top of the stairs but we'll be putting up baby gates as soon as he/she is mobile.

Before we move all the furniture from Ben's old office to his new office we wanted to do a bit of painting which we will get started on this weekend. The guest room (a.k.a. Ben's new office) never got painted and is still sporting white walls. We picked out a nice taupe-y color to warm it up, but kept it light enough that it won't look "harsh" with the slanted ceilings that come down low on the walls. While my office is staying put, the current color is not. I picked out a light green color when we moved in and it's safe to say it didn't exactly turn out as I expected. It's not horrible, but at night it does have a certain "glow" and Ben sweetly refers to it as "Alien Autopsy Green". haha  This time around I consulted Ben in choosing a color (he's good at that sort of thing) and I am going with a grayish blue. Ben's current office (the baby's room) is already painted a tan-ish color. For now, our plan is to leave that paint color as-is and decorate with other colors but we may change our minds.

It's not safe for me to be around the paint fumes since I'm pregnant so unfortunately Ben is going to do the brunt of the work alone. I'll be able to tape everything off and may do some edging since it would be limited exposure to the paint (just a little bit poured in a cup versus big pans of paint and lots of wet paint on the walls). Ben will come in and use the roller at a different time (window open and fan on!) and I'll either leave or stay downstairs to avoid the fumes. We certainly don't want our baby to come out with an extra arm or something! (Though, we would love it anyway and cut an extra hole in its shirts to accommodate the extra limb.) Once we finish all our painting and furniture moving I'll post some before and after pictures. :-)

Our fun purchase of the week is a used glider and ottoman! We got an email through the neighborhood listserve that a family was selling theirs and we hopped right on the deal. It's in great condition, very comfortable, and the cushion covers can all be removed and washed. This particular brand retails for $300 - $400 and we got it for $40!

At the moment it's sitting in the corner of our living room until we move the furniture out of Ben's current office. We like to take turns pretending to rock the baby to sleep (usually cradling the television remote or a water bottle). haha

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Here's what the baby is up to this week:


Your baby's sensory development is exploding! Her brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that she may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to her, or singing a happy tune if the mood strikes you.


Your baby 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.


Now that the baby's hearing is starting to develop, Ben will come over and yell at my belly every once and a while. It's pretty funny. I'm looking forward to when the baby will be big enough that I can feel it respond to his voice! When I sit or lay very still I still feel an occasional tap from the baby and have even felt a few solid thumps and maybe a roll or two. It's pretty neat! Unfortunately they are few and far between and are so soft that even if I could predict when it was going to happen, I don't know that Ben would be able to feel it from the outside. It is reassuring to feel the baby move, though. Since I've had a fairly symptom-free pregnancy it's nice to have a little evidence that a person is growing inside me and I'm not just getting a bigger belly.  :-)

Speaking of my belly, here is the photo of the week!

Even though it's still small compared to what it will become over the next few months, it certainly has done a lot of growing! Check out this side-by-side comparison from just ten weeks ago:

I didn't think to measure my waist right when we found out I am pregnant, but if I base it off my usual waist size I've grown a good five or six inches around! My belly button is starting to change shape, too. Instead of being completely round it is becoming a little flatter and the top "rim" sort of curves downward like a sad face. Maybe it's the beginning of an "outie" belly button!

As I mentioned in the Week 18 post, we'll be finding out if the baby is a boy or a girl very soon! According to our little poll on the blog it looks like most of you think there is a little boy in my belly. We'll find out next Thursday! You can still vote in the poll if you haven't had a chance to do so. If you're reading this in your email click here to go to the blog and the poll is on the top right side.

I'll pop in next Thursday to announce if it's a boy or girl, then I'll be back with a usual post over the weekend. Can't wait!!

Week 18: Bumpin' and Thumpin'

Big news of the week: I felt the baby move for the first time! (Hence the "Bumpin'" part of the title of this post). It happened on Monday so technically it was the last day of week 17. As I was waking up that morning I felt three little taps and later in the day I took a little pre-dinner snooze and felt one more! It was very subtle, but distinct enough that I am pretty sure it was the baby. Exciting!

As for the "Thumpin'" part of the title, that would be a reference to the baby's heartbeat! We had an appointment with the midwife on Tuesday morning and she found the heartbeat almost as soon as she put the monitor against my belly. Ben was able to come with me as our appointment was pretty early in the day and it was cool for him to be able to hear it again, too. Generally speaking the midwife said everything looked great and that my weight gain is right on track. My allergies have been a little bothersome (8,000 - 9,000 pollen counts will do that!) and the cautionary information on the eye drops I usually use said to talk to your doctor if you're pregnant or breastfeeding. I was so excited that the midwife said they were fine to use. No more itchy eyes! It was actually kind of funny... the midwife said something like, "Most drug companies put that warning on everything because no one really knows what every single drug will do to every single pregnant person. You'll never see a label that says, 'Hey pregnant people! Take a big dose of this!'" haha

We'll come back in two weeks for a regular check-up and the ultrasound to see if we are having a boy or girl! The appointment is Thursday, April 12... we're so excited! After the appointment we'll call our parents and my grandmothers and also post it to the blog to share the news. In the meantime, we thought it might be fun to take a little poll to see what you all think we are having a boy or girl! You can vote (just one time, please!) using the little poll on the right side bar of the blog. If you are reading this in your email, click here to go to the blog to vote. No matter which one you choose you'll have a 50/50 shot at being right! :-)

Here's what the baby is up to this week:

Head to rump, your baby is about 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin, and his ears are now in their final position, although they're still standing out from his head a bit. A protective covering of myelin is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.


It's hard to believe the baby is about as long as a dollar bill! Or, maybe not as I feel like my belly had a growth spurt this week. What do you think?

(I feel like I look more pregnant than this in person!)