It's a squirrel!

TP measurement for today is 11.75 squares... but that's not at all the biggest news of the day.

We're having a sweet baby squirrel... I mean girl and I couldn't be more thrilled!!

I'd gotten to the point of quitting trying to decide what I felt like "it was" and just let it be. Not like I could change anything, nor could anyone else who may have wanted things one way or another. So, with that attitude, despite all my trepidation and whining about surprises, we were off to the land of 30 minute ultrasounds.

The found the placenta and Head measurement first, looked great. The technician said there was a good-looking brain in there, like her mom. Then onto arms, hands, spine, stomach, kidneys, legs, feet, heart, arteries and those "3 lines" they always look for when they don't see a twig and berries. Her legs were crossed during the ultrasound, which if I remember correctly from my mom, my legs were also crossed at my ultrasound. We're ladies.

At one point the tech had her foot in full view. The tech was pushing and prodding around still, and baby girl did NOT like that at all and kicked away from the wand. I can't wait until Joshua and I can really feel her kick and punch. We got to see her face too. She was just chillin' and grinning.

Two of our friends also found out the sexes of their little ones today... a girl and a boy. Out little jellybean will surely have her pick of all the boys in our group of friends.

I have to say, calling her "she" instead of "the baby" or "symbiote" or "it" feels a lot better. We got a video and pictures, albeit only a few pictures. Once I get them online I'll add them to the blog.

Did I mention I hate surprises?

Even if they're good surprises. I can't stand it when there's a plan laid out and a wrench gets thrown in.

Like when your doctor schedules you for an anatomy scan for one day but makes it sound like it's on another day.

Like when I found out some news yesterday, when my office called to confirm my anatomy scan appointment for 9 am on Friday. As in today Friday. Not Monday at 3:30 pm like I originally thought. THAT is just a monthly exam with the doc. Huh what?

Cue anxious and excited feelings coming at me like a train from completely out of nowhere. Instead of having the weekend to psych myself up for Monday, I had to get ready for today.

Work yesterday was almost pointless for an hour or so... extremely hard to concentrate. I tossed and turned all night last night... so did Joshua. He whispered to my stomach last night "You can tell me if you're a boy or girl, I won't tell mommy..." Then this morning when he woke up I got "I'm so excited, I'm so excited!" whispered over and over again in my ear. We both asked baby not to be shy.

It's finally getting really real for him. I'm just excited to stop calling symbiote "it".

Just over an hour to go before we get going... I should probably go take a shower.

Week 18, or The Santa Effect

This is pretty torturous, looking at the growth of my belly over spans of time. This is a fat kid's worst nightmare.

But I'm glad I still haven't fluctuated on my weight, up or down. Hold steady!

Lots of new milestones...

I'm horrible at blogging.

So, starting this past Tuesday, a day before I hit 17 weeks, some new stuff happened...

1. I can feel the little symbiote in there swimming laps and doing somersaults... and whatever else fetuses do in their spare time. It's always right before bed and it's pretty indescribable. My friend Brittnee let me borrow her home doppler, which has been interesting the two times I've listened. It's like drive-by heartbeats... pretty cool. I'm trying not to use it too much, I don't want to get too used to it. Plus, surprises of this sort are more fun.

2. The hair on my stomach is turning black. I don't want to talk about that.

3. Maternity clothing is more and more a part of my daily life. It depends on the day, but the rubber band with the jeans isn't cutting it like it used to. I have my closet sectioned off now based on tops that are too tight on my belly. I am more and more grateful every day that I get to wear whatever I want to work, within reason of course. And my yoga pants totally pass for dress pants.

4. We got a free dresser for the baby's room off Freecycle. It's a 6-drawer Ikea piece that will double perfectly as a changing table. Just need to sand it down and paint it before we move it upstairs.

Speaking of paint, we painted the living room and rearranged the furniture. Much more open... and baby-friendly, funny enough. We can see everything on the floor from the kitchen now, and the dead corner that used to plague my every waking moment is no more.

Also, my TP measurement for the past 2 weeks has been 11 squares. No change... although I can definitely tell a change in shape. We'll keep growing and see what happens!

Two weeks from today we find out if symbiote is a boy or girl. I'm excited to find out!

Check up, check in

I was a little disappointed that there was no ultrasound with my most recent appointment on May 13. I was hoping to see more baby acrobatics! That's ok though, everything was great, 150 bmp heartbeat and baby was very low.

In the days since the appointment I've started feeling for baby. We've borrowed a stethoscope and have had a little luck hearing baby's heartbeat and movements. I'm starting to tell the difference between what's just digestion and what's baby jiggles. It's a different kind of bubbly feeling.

As I'm typing this, baby's doing something..... I really can't wait to be used as a punching and kicking bag in a few weeks!!

Speaking of a few weeks, June 14 we find out if we're having a Male Symbiotic Jellybean or a Female Symbiotic Jellybean. Exciting!

A lot of women I talk with wanted their docs to do ultrasounds early to try and figure out the sex. At week 12 or 13 some trained technicians can tell, apparently. But it's funny... For the first time in my life I'm ok with waiting for something. I was the kid who knew where the Christmas presents were and peeked at them all (sorry Mom!) but this is one little present that I don't mind waiting for.

Week 15!

"Later today" does not usually mean "3 days later"... but whatever.

Week 15 belly!



Next time I get pregnant I'm taking "before" pictures. I honestly can't remember how flat (or not) my stomach was before this started. I feel like I just look like I ate too many cookies... constantly... for about 15 weeks. I can feel a difference in the firmness of my stomach below my belly button though. I wish I could take a picture of firmness, haha.

There we have it. I can't say I feel awesome about how I look... I just keep telling myself I've lost 7 pounds, this is all for the best and it's all baby, not fat.

This is where I apologize for neglecting the blog

I'm really good at neglecting every blog I've ever had. This one is no different.

So here's a super quick rundown of everything I missed last week...

At week 13 my TP measurement was 10.5 sheets. I shrunk, somehow. I think it's because my ass is migrating to my belly. Seriously, I am kind of upset that it's retreating.

In other news, I finally got a scale via Freecycle, which is pretty much my favorite thing ever. You post "wanted" or "offer" posts to the group, and you get to give or get stuff. It so happened that I was able to trade my unflattering dress pants with pockets (that made me look wider) for a nice, clean, functioning scale from a very nice KISD teacher who had recently lost 70 lbs. after a gastric bypass and was still wearing her size 20 pants. She's still shrinking, and funny enough her two sisters also got gastric bypasses after she did, so those pants still have a lot of life left in them.

Anyway, the scale. I hate scales, I always have. I have always preferred to go by how my clothes fit rather than pay attention to the numbers, either of my weight or my clothing size. However, as my doctor has decreed that I only gain 15 pounds while carrying the symbiote, I have to actually track my weight. Yay.

Good news is... I've lost 6 lbs. since the pregnancy started. Pretty amazing to me, as none of that went away because of morning sickness. We'll see what happens over the next few months.

Also, symbiote has an e in it. I've been spelling it wrong.

That pretty much catches everything up to now. Almost... week 14 belly pics and TP measurement will be up later today.

Happy Mother's Day!