Week 21 Movements and Gender

So I am now 21 weeks along and finally had my ultrasound done last Tuesday. The doctor said everything seemed to be progressing along very nicely so I probably won't be having another done at the doctors office. Our little baby girl or boy wasn't cooperating when it came time to determine the gender so the best GUESS the technician could give us was that it was a girl. (Her legs were crossed so it was hard to tell.) The following day I had my doctor appointment and met with the midwife of the office and she said it had a girl's heartbeat (154 bpm) also so she was going with girl. Apparently a girl's heartbeat is typically between 150 and 160 bpm and a boy's is between 130 and 140 bpm. So Jenna and I went to Carter's and bought a bunch of girl's clothes that afternoon. Girl's clothes are so much cuter than boy clothes. Here is the only picture I got from the ultrasound.

I'm going today to have another 2D ultrasound done to determine the gender at an outside place that specifically does ultrasounds for memories. I will be going back in a few more weeks to get a 3D ultrasound done then I will be able to get a portrait of the baby after he/she is born. They have different packages depending on how much you want to spend and exactly what you are wanting from the ultrasound. Here is the website:

http://www.specialdeliveryimaging.com/

I've been feeling the baby move for a few weeks now. It started out as little taps and kicks but now I can really feel them. Mark was able to feel the baby kick last week but it is still very subtle. I've determined that it feels as weird as I thought it would. Does anyone else find it weird to have another living being moving around inside of you? Well I do... It just creeps me out but at the same time I like it cause I know that the baby is alive and well.

I can tell a pattern for when I feel the movements too. It is usually around 11am, 5pm, and 10pm. I have to be sitting still in order to feel it but that is when I notice it most. This week the baby is supposed to be 10 1/2 inches long from head to foot about the length of a carrot which is pretty long in my book. My sister's son was 21 inches long when born so that means that my baby will be about twice as long as it is now when born. Man that just freaks me out too. lol

Well that is what's going on in my baby world this week.

Halfway Point (Week 20)

As I hit week 20 I thought I should start working on my baby registries. Here is a link to the first one I started. I will be adding more stuff over the next few weeks and plan on going to Target to start a second registry.

Babies"R"Us - Baby Registry

Starting this week the baby will start being measured from head to foot instead of head to butt. So last week the baby was about 6 inches long (head to butt), this week he/she is 6 1/2 inches from head to butt and 10 inches from head to foot. About the length of a banana and they weigh 10 1/2 ounces. It is still hard to believe I have something growing inside of me. It is scary to think I will be responsible for a little person in just few more short months. I don't have any doubts that I can handle it but it is a big life changing event that is going to happen. Well it is late and I'm tired just wanted to give a quick update...

Week 18 - 1st week of month 5

Wow can't believe I have already made it to my 5th month. I remember hoping I would make it through the 1st trimester without any major complications. Well I added a couple of widgets to my blog thanks to another blog I stumbled across when researching sciatic nerve pain.

One tracks the size of the baby each week which I have already been researching on BabyCenter every week. This week according to Baby Center the baby is the length of a bell pepper and according to the widget it is the size of a sweet potato. It's neat to get the different foods for comparison. I can relate better to the sweet potato. lol

I'm pretty sure I have felt the baby moving mostly in the evenings when I am sitting and watching TV. I can't wait to find out what I am having. My ultrasound is scheduled for April 27th at 10:30 am and my doctor appointment is scheduled for the following day at 9:15am. I am adding a poll to the side for everyone to answer whether they think I am having a boy or girl. So get your votes in before April 27th and hopefully we will all find out what our lil sweet potato will be.

Week 16

Right now he or she is the size of an avocado. As I sit here watching a lecture video for class I think I feel you move. A flutter here, a bump there. It isn't strong but it is unlike anything I've felt before. It is low in my belly and very light. I still can't be sure though. It is scary to think there is a living being inside of me.

I am in my forth month now and don't feel like I am showing my pregnancy, this is due to the belly fat that I had before getting pregnant. To me, I don't look any bigger even though my jeans are tighter. I used to think pregnant women started showing about 3 months but now I know that isn't true for everyone.

Birthing thoughts

So I just stumbled across a Chinese Gender calendar that is said to be 90% accurate at guessing the gender of the baby. So I put in my age of 26 and the month of conception which was December. It says I am having a GIRL. 

http://www.thebump.com/calculators/ChineseGenderChart.aspx

Also I am having to change doctors since my original doctor won't file medicaid as a second insurance. So I am changing to a doctor in Conway that has a Midwife there. I think I might try to have this baby without the drugs. After watching this movie documentary called The Business of Being Born. It talked about how Midwives are used throughout the world and not so much here. That the infant mortality rate is 2nd highest in the US when compared to the rest of the world and that the rate of C-Sections in the USA is 47%. That just scared me. I don't want to have a C-Section if at all possible and don't want to be pressured into getting one before the baby is ready to come out. 

I think by going with a Midwife I could avoid this. I think I would also like to have a waterbirth but i don't think Medicaid covers that....I just can't afford it otherwise. Maybe the hospital has a bathtub in the birthing room. I haven't been the Conway hospital birthing rooms yet to see. They do tours on Sunday at 2pm so I will have to go by and see what they have.

Beginning 2nd trimester

I am 14 weeks now and well I have found that I don't really like eating meat. I guess I need to find some other way to get the nutrients I usually get from meat. Mostly my iron cause that is already on the low end. Actually I am hungry right now but I don't feel like making anything. I never really liked meat anyway but now it is just gross. lol

I feel relieved that my chance of miscarriage is now less than 1%. I don't know why I worry about things like that but I do. Good news is Jaime is supposed to be having her baby in the next few days. If she doesn't go into labor before Thursday she is going to be induced in the morning. I hope everything goes well with the delivery.

Here are the ultrasounds from week 6. He is just a little pea.

I had an ultrasound done last week at the college and the baby actually looks like a baby now. Here are the pictures I got. Still too early to tell whether it is a boy or girl but there is defiantly a baby in there.

Belly shots

Here are some pictures of my stomach through my pregnancy so far. Me at week 6, week 11, and week 12. I haven't really gained any weight since getting pregnant but that might have something to do with the workout program I started about the same time as my week 6 photo.

Right now my weight is 185. According to the pregnancy book I've been reading I should start gaining about a pound a week after this week.

Taken from babycenter.com:

Also IF I am having a girl, she now has more than 2 million eggs in her ovaries. My baby is almost 3 inches long (the size of a medium shrimp) and weighs nearly an ounce.