Just a quick note to let everyone know that Zakk will be coming to Ohio with me in a few weeks! Well, sort of with me. He’ll be coming in Saturday morning and leaving Monday afternoon (so getting there after me and leaving before me), but at least he’ll be there for the baby shower! We’re both really looking forward to seeing everyone!
I feel butterflies…it must be love!
In the last few days, I have most definitely begun to feel our baby girl moving around! Like the little butterflies you feel when you’re falling in love. Which is exactly what I’m doing, more and more every day. Happy Valentine’s Day to all my friends and family. And especially to the loves of my life, Zakk and our baby girl.
The Halfway Point!
I can’t believe we’re already at the halfway point! 20 weeks down, 20 more to go! Assuming she arrives on time, that is. But babies are born when they’re ready to be born, not according to someone’s schedule. So we’ll see.
She is approximately the size of a banana now, around 6 1/2 inches long from head to bottom and about 10 inches from head to heel. For the first 20 weeks, when a baby’s legs are curled up against her torso and hard to measure, measurements are taken from the top of her head to her bottom — the “crown to rump” measurement. After 20 weeks, she’s measured from head to toe. (According to BabyCenter.com)
19 Weeks
It’s a…
…baby! And a stubborn one, at that! The evasive maneuvers this one was pulling to avoid being documented were impressive and pretty funny. Until we were nearly 45 minutes into the ultrasound, and my full bladder had been kneaded like a ball of dough for at least half that time, and it was really looking like we were going to have to come back another day. Then it wasn’t quite as funny. But they (the ultrasound tech, doc, and student doc) changed tactics and managed to get much better views and tell us that our baby is…a girl! And she looks strong and healthy and has a gorgeous heart (they kept saying that and taking more pictures of her heart, which just made me smile and laugh a lot). Honestly, Zakk and I are both kind of in shock right now. Some people really know they want a boy or a girl. We both just wanted a healthy baby. Or so we thought. When they told us our baby is a girl, the disbelief both of us felt made us realize we had both been thinking it was a boy. In fact, my initial response was a wide-eyed, “Oh boy, a girl…”, which the ultrasound tech thought was hilarious and yet I didn’t even notice my pun. But we’re warming up to the idea already. And our mothers are both thrilled. They say they knew it was a girl. And Zakk’s sister, Emma. She knew, too. I say they had a 50/50 chance of being right and they got lucky. But there’s nothing wrong with that.
“Zakk, we’re having a daughter…”
Baby Girl at 18 weeks, 5 days
The Next Chapter
As of this past Wednesday, I hit the 18 week mark in my pregnancy! And I decided it’s time to get the new blog up and running. Zakk tells me that this new home for our blog (WordPress) is much more user-friendly (i.e. I can do it myself without bugging him the whole way through the creation of each and every post) than our old blog site was. So, we moved. All the old posts are still up on the other blog site, which can be found at http://hazyraintricks.blogspot.com in case you (or more likely I) ever want to revisit them.
I’m excited to share this journey into parenthood with the people I care about, especially since many of them don’t live anywhere near me and Zakk and so they can’t experience the changes in us firsthand. I don’t think Zakk has changed much yet. No extra belly on him. No hormonal roller coaster rides. I, on the other hand, have definitely been feeling different than my old self. I’m certainly eating more. (Just ask my friend Jenn about the superstar breakfast I chowed down on a little over a week ago at Pine State Biscuits. I think the staff was staring and whispering about me.) And I’ve got a little gut. (Coincidence? I think not…) And I think Zakk will attest to the fact that my moods have become about as predictable as when Mount St. Helens will erupt next. (Speaking of volcanoes…) But all in all, things are good. I’ve really had a pretty good pregnancy so far (no puking on the bus ride to or from work and I never once fell asleep in the middle of a conversation – both of which I was a little afraid of), so I can only hope my luck holds up as baby and I continue to grow.
On Monday, Zakk and I will get to see our tiny baby up on the big (well, not that big) screen again! We have our anatomy ultrasound, so everyone keep your fingers and toes crossed that our little one has all the appropriate pieces and parts to make a healthy baby. I love ultrasounds. I could seriously just watch our baby squirm around for hours. Last time I had one, I got to see our little sweet pea have the most adorable hiccup that ever was! I have to say though, it is really, really weird to see the baby moving around on the screen and know that baby is inside me, but not be able to feel thing. So strange. But supposedly I will be able to feel movement anytime now, which I’m super excited about! I imagine that excitement will turn into something else when baby is kicking me in the ribs or the bladder. But until then, I’m excited!
At 16 Weeks, our tiny baby was approximately the size of an avocado.