Another quiet week

I usually do try to update more than once a week, but I guess this was another quiet week with not much to say.  Jason was out of town on business and I don't like being alone... I tend to hole myself up and do nothing, so I guess that's my excuse. :P

Nothing exciting has been going on this week. School has been rough... I am wondering how I am going to keep up the energy!  On top of that I am finding it hard to get in the right attitude.  A lot of the kids I teach are going through a lot of stuff at home, and I try to understand that when dealing with them, but this week I've just felt like yelling and screaming at them.  And it's not even been behavior related... I've been getting so frustrated with.... well... their stupidity!!  I know... I know... their kids, but they just don't think before they speak!  I guess it's hormones getting in the way, because I am usually more patient than this, but seriously.... when I ask what day of the week it is, and we agree it's "miercoles" then I ask what tomorrow is... why would you say "miercoles"!?  I know we're speaking in another language, but we do this EVERY week!!! Sigh....

I got two nice large bags of clothes upon Jason's return from his trip from his sister Andrea who just had a baby boy last summer.  It's been a ton of fun going through the cute clothes! (Thanks Andrea, btw).  Now I'm really starting to think about needing to get things ready.  I've sort of done some searches online for ideas.... but really haven't done anything.  I still have a good bit of time, but I'm starting to worry... but what else is new? ;)

I did have an interesting dream the other night.... speaking of worrying.... I dreamt that I gave birth to a Cabbage Patch doll!  How weird is that?  And to make it weirder, I was told in my dream (as I was packing the doll in the car seat to bring home from the hospital) that "it sometimes happens, but the real baby is still on the way".  What a weird dream!!  Wondering what it means...

So we're at 20 weeks now!!  That's half-way!!  It feels good and bad at the same time... half of me is happy thinking we're that much closer to meeting our little one! But half of me is thinking "I have all this to do all over again, and it's only going to get worse from here?"  The past 20 weeks have not seemed short, and I doubt it's going to feel any shorter as the school year gets closer to the end.  And I know that I've had it really easy... but I've already started having back pain and aches down the sides of my belly, I can only imagine it's going to get a lot worse!  It also makes me feel, as mentioned above, that I really need to start thinking about getting things ready!

At 20 weeks our Floodling is the size of a cantaloupe!! Next week will be the last week with a weekly size update!  After week 21 we only get a monthly fruit! How sad!

 

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.)  And while your baby is definitely getting bigger, there's still plenty of growing room in there, which allows him to twist and turn (and allows you to feel his acrobatics!).

Baby gulps down several ounces of amniotic fluid every day, both for nutrition and to practice swallowing and digesting. And, these days, those taste buds actually work! Studies show that after birth, babies respond best to tastes they've already had via amniotic fluid. Meaning, think about what you'd like your future child to eat as you prepare your own lunch.

I'm back!

Sorry for the quiet week... I've been feeling pretty miserable all week.  I apparently came down with some sort of "flu" over the weekend (even though I had my flu shot, blah).  I have been completely and utterly exhausted all week, and I've had a horrible cough (that's made the exhaustion even worse.... nothing saps your energy and makes you hurt worse than the inability to stop coughing!).  I really should have taken a day or two off of school (to be honest, I'm not completely sure how I made it through the week).  But sub plans are so frustrating to put together, and now with the news team and being the only one that knows what's going on there it's even harder to be out.

I did see my OB for my regular monthly appointment in the midst of this, and she didn't seem too concerned.  The biggest concern with getting sick is getting a fever (not good for baby to get too hot in there), but thankfully I didn't have one.  It still probably would have been a good idea for me to get some rest, but that's what I'm enjoying doing now!

The monthly appointment went well.  I'm always surprised how quick and simple it is.  They basically check the heartbeat, then ask if I'm having any issues or questions, and that's it.  I did ask if our baby being slightly "overweight" right now meant anything for later on, and of course she responded with the typical disdain of doctors dealing with people who get too much information off the internet or from books.... she basically said that no, it doesn't mean anything right now, but I really do hate how doctors can be like that.  Yes, the internet is out there and putting tons of information in the hands of people who don't know how to use it properly, but that's why I'm asking questions... to find out what is useful information, and what isn't.  I'm not freaking out and being a hypochondriac about everything, I'm just curious!  I really hate being laughed at by doctors... doesn't make you feel at ease to question anything else that is on your mind....I had some other silly questions I wanted to ask, but I didn't feel like asking after that. (Where exactly do my organs go? And what about my abs?  All this coughing usually hurts my abs, but it's just hurting my ribs now, so where are my abs? How far apart can the baby's movements be? Can he "float" from side to side in my uterus or is he just that long that I can feel things high on the right then low on the left?)

Jason is going to be out of town this next week, which I am not excited about.  I always hate being home alone, and I'm not always in the best emotional state these days, so I'm afraid it's going to make it that much worse.  Maybe you'll be hearing from me more this week...

Our baby is now the size of a mango (or heirloom tomato according to the description below).  I'm not quite at the point where I'm comfortable talking to my belly and reading aloud and what not as suggested below, but I am thankful that in being an elementary school teacher I already do a lot of that (and singing too!) very loudly and constantly throughout the day, so baby is probably hearing all sorts of fun things! :P I'm even trying to keep my tone more friendly when dealing with "problem" students.

Your baby's sensory development is exploding! His brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. Some research suggests that he may be able to hear your voice now, so don't be shy about reading aloud, talking to him, 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. His arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of his body now. His kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on his scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on his skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid.

Almost forgot!

With all the excitement of getting to see our little one, finding out we're having a boy, and feeling the first real movements, I almost forgot that today is Saturday and time for the weekly growth update!!  This week he is about the size of a sweet potato.  The technician told us he weighs about 9 oz right now (as you can see below he's a little above the average for 18 weeks, and the scan was done at 18 weeks 0 days! Hoping this doesn't mean he's going to be a large baby... Jason did weigh over 9 lbs. when he was born, he says). I have no idea how they can tell how much he weighs... I assume it's estimated based on measurements of head, tummy, etc.  (She did a lot of measuring during the scan).  She didn't tell us how long he is though!

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 boy (which we are!), his genitals are noticeable now, but he may hide them from you during an ultrasound. (Which he definitely didn't!)

As if to say...

"Yes mom, it's really real!" our baby Floodling started kicking BIG TIME this morning!  As mentioned before I had been feeling small flutterings and what not, but this morning I was sitting doing my medicine before school and started to feel it.... how to explain "it" exactly I don't know, but there was definite movement going on in there!  I put my hand on my tummy and could definitely feel it on the outside too!  I wished Jason had been awake so he could feel it too!  And I couldn't believe how long he kept at it!  :P  I have still been feeling the little flutterings all day today inter-mixed with a few "big" kicks every once in a while.  I guess I'll be feeling a lot of that now!

Believe it or not, Jason was the one to buy the first outfit!  A pair of "J's" and a Jordan onesie.  He saw it a while back and couldn't wait to find out if it was a girl or boy so he could buy the pink or the black.

It's a Boy!

As such I figured the blog could use a facelift!

We finally know!  And I can say I was more surprised than I thought I'd be!  I honestly thought I didn't have suspicions one way or another as to whether I thought we were having a boy or a girl, but apparently the back of my mind was saying girl and I didn't really realize it!  Apparently most everyone else was saying girl too as the vote was 64% in favor of girl!  Big surprise today!

So the scan went really well!  Everything looks good.... our little boy looks happy and healthy!  The doc said he can't guarantee he'll go to Harvard or Yale but things look great.  Jason said it doesn't matter anyway, as long as he has a good golf swing. ;)

I could actually tell before the technician told us for sure that it was a boy.  As she went through checking out each part she was showing us his legs and thigh bones.  Then she moved on without saying anything, but I was pretty sure I had seen "something there".

Sure enough, when she did go back to show us, I was right!  She said he had everything hanging out, like he was showing it off and proud to be a boy!  She said there was no denying it... we could see that all the pieces were there. :)

It was really cool to see our baby like that and not just the blob we've been seeing!  We could see him moving his arms and legs around!  The technician even kind of "zoomed in" on his head and I could see him opening and closing his mouth!  Practicing "sucking" as the weekly updates have said... that was awesome!  She wanted to get a good profile pic of the whole body, but he wouldn't sit still long enough.  One second he'd lay flat then the next his feet were up by his head... it was kind of funny.

Things are definitely starting to feel more real now!  And I have to admit I have already been doing a few preliminary searches for bedding and other items now that we know!  I couldn't resist!

Here are some of the peeks we got of our Baby Boy Floodling!

Our baby's side profile!

His foot (towards the top) that I'm sure I will be feeling more of!

He's definitely a boy!

A kind of eerie front view, but you can see the already cute belly!! (Head is on the left, belly on the right... you can see his forehead, eye sockets, and chin shape!!!)

And the baby room will be.....

Click here to find out...

More to come later!

The big day is almost here....

I've been counting down the days until tomorrow to the point that I wasn't even sad to see my weekend pass quickly!  I have been telling people that we get to find out tomorrow with mixed reactions.  Some people are just as excited as me, "oh!  You'll have to tell me right away!" and others respond with "you really want to find out!?"

I have to say, for the longest time I always thought I would wait to find out.  But, of course, now that I'm actually pregnant, things are a little different because I just really want to know! On top of the fact that I have already had to wait four and a half months so it IS a surprise, I kind of feel like waiting is now just sort of "romanticized".  What's the point in waiting?  Of course, on the same lines, what's the point in finding out? We both don't care either way, but I think it will make planning easier.  We'll still have to buy some unisex items like car seats and high chairs since we don't plan on this being the only child, but I would like to be able to decorate the baby's room and be able to buy some clothes knowing what the sex will be.  On top of that, since so many people do find out nowadays, it's harder and harder to find unisex items.

In addition to being excited about finding out the gender, I'm super excited about just getting to see baby Floodling again!  And not only that, but being able to recognize a baby, and not just a blob! We are hoping things go well and that baby's not too wiggly or doesn't have his or her legs crossed preventing us from being able to see the special parts, but in addition to that we are of course praying that the scan shows that our baby is happy and healthy!

So, you will definitely be hearing from me again tomorrow.  But, don't expect anything too early!  My appointment is late afternoon.  I don't know exactly when I'll have a chance to write so I'm going to say don't expect anything before 7:00 pm just to be on the safe side... ;)

Not a fruit this week!!

So, Georgia finally got some snow yesterday and I got to have a day off!  Woo hoo! Yes, it wasn't even an inch of snow, but we know that #1) Georgians can't even drive in rain, and #2) there really is no equipment to make it safe to drive in snow (ie. no snow plows, no salting trucks, etc.)  So yes, even with under an inch of snow, we had the day off due to icy road conditions.

The day off was incredibly welcome after my busy and stressful week!  My News Team did a great job in their Wednesday morning debut!  However, cords got mixed up sometime between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning (who would touch those!?!?) and we could NOT get live feed in time for Thursday morning.  We had to run to the front office at the last minute to do announcements over the intercom... not a fun way to start out the morning (stressing and running around before 8:00 is not my choice of wake-up call).  Then I spent every spare minute I had the rest of the day Thursday playing with the cords until my fingers hurt from screwing and unscrewing cable wires!  I did manage to fix it though, ALL BY MYSELF!  Who knew I was so tech savvy??

So, with all that, the snow day was welcome... a day for me to chill out and again focus on taking care of myself!

Our baby is growing lots these days and is now the size of an onion!  I'm trying to figure out if I'm feeling movements now!  I think I keep feeling little flutterings and nudges, but I can't feel anything from the outside when I put a hand on my belly.  The sensations are so light it's easy to make myself think I just imagined it.... and on top of that it's not like things haven't been gurgly in that area these days... but I think by now I know what gas feels like as opposed to something else. I've read that people usually start feeling movement between weeks 14 and 22... but that first time moms are more likely not to feel anything until closer to week 20 (or at least not to recognize what they're feeling).  I've also read that "skinny minnie" moms tend to feel movements earlier than larger moms because the extra "padding" can kind of mute the sensations... and though I am by no means going to claim that I am fat, my pudge tends to accumulate on my tummy so I'd be kind of surprised to be feeling things so early.

Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, her sweat glands are starting to develop, and those little fingers and toes are now topped by one-of-a-kind prints.

Don't forget to vote!! (Check out the right-hand column of the page!)

Busy busy busy!!

Warning:  This is a very long post!  But there is some exciting information at the end, so if you're patient and read, you will be rewarded!  Of course, you can skip all my blabber if you want... I won't be offended... but if you read it all I'll know you truly love me! ;)

So, if you are friends with me on Facebook, or otherwise talk to me regularly, you know that my return to school after the holiday was quite dreaded, and the first day back was a long one.  The first day back to school is always rough after any break.. and it gets progressively harder based on the length of the break, so Christmas break is always the worst!  You  never seem quite prepared for classes... you know the kids are going to act like it's the first day of school again, and of course the loss of the ability to sleep in is never welcome either.  This return from Christmas break was made that much harder as I was met with not only my fullest day of classes (I don't get any planning periods on Tuesdays), but also the obstacle of trying to get my News Team (as mentioned in an earlier post) up and running.

I was SO nervous about the morning announcements, I can't even explain it!  I spent all of Monday prepping things (backgrounds, cut-outs to show weather, temperature.... scenes for the moment of silence and the anthem) that I hardly got anything planned for my classes on Tuesday! I came home from school and worked until I went to bed!  Then Tuesday morning I was so nervous I couldn't even eat!  Thankfully we had decided to start on Wednesday, but Tuesday morning was our last chance to practice, and I was so nervous that the kids would have forgotten everything!!

The practice went so well that I was able to sleep easy last night knowing things would go fine today... and they did!  Minus a glitch involving a frozen exercise DVD (the school is supposed to do some brief exercises every morning) everything went fine, and hopefully it will only get better from here!

All this worry and running around has left hardly any time for me to worry or think about baby, which is good in some ways, and bad in others.  I have a tendency to over-worry about things (gee, really!?) so having something else to think about can be a good thing, but I don't really think it's better for me to get so busy and worried that I'm not taking care of myself.  I kept thinking all Tuesday how horrible I was for not eating breakfast!  Would I wake up and decide I was too busy to feed my child?  Of course not!  So why should it be any different for me right now not to feed myself?  I kept thinking I would get 5 minutes to eat something, but all my classes were bright and early, and I never even got so much as 30 seconds of free time before lunch!  I did manage to eat most of a banana (over the course of 50 minutes, while teaching!), but I still felt horrible!

But thanks to my wonderful husband, who has done so many things for me this week already, I am now able to put my feet up and take a few moments to breathe and refocus.

I do have exciting news though!  I finally got the call from my doctor telling me when my appointment is for the "anatomy screening".  This is the appointment where they do an ultrasound to make sure the baby is growing properly, but it's also the appointment where we get to find out if we're having a boy or a girl!  AND it's only one week away!  Well, one week and one day, but close enough!  I'm super excited!!

I am very curious as to what you all *think* we are going to have.  I think it would be fun to see what you think before making the actual announcement.  So, you will see on the right side of the blog there is now a "vote" feature where you can guess whether we'll have a boy or a girl.  And, besides my mom and sister, I sometimes think no one is reading the blog (no one leaves comments!), so this is a way that you can anonymously contribute to the blog and let me know that people are reading!

To help you in your decision, if you don't already know what you think, I will review some popular old wives' tales:
I am craving salty snacks instead of sweet (and yes, admittedly, pickles!). That means boy.
A ring dangled over my belly swings in a circle instead of back and forth, which means girl.
The Chinese Gender chart predicts a girl.
My face seems to be clearing up since the pregnancy (no more pimples!). That means boy.
I didn't really have morning sickness, which means boy.
Urine (lovely, I know) has been dark, not neon... that means girl.

Hmm.... I'm curious to see what you think!  You're welcome to make your vote and also to post your vote in a comment if you want me to know what you said! (You do not have to log in to leave a comment, you can choose to post anonymously then sign your name).

Also, as promised this week, new belly pic!  Week 16 means things should be starting to pop out, and I think they are!  I've had several teachers (who still apparently didn't know) brave enough to ask me this week.  They said they'd wondered for a while, but it is now getting obvious that I'm not just putting on weight.

6 weeks

8 weeks

12 weeks

16 weeks

It's really funny because each time I don't think the picture is going to show much change, but then I am surprised!  Floodling is doing lots of growing, and so am I!  I wonder how much longer I'll fit in this pink shirt!

The Name Game

4 months! Hard to believe!

For whatever reason this week I seem to have freaked about trying to find a name.  Jason and I have two good ones we like so far (one for a girl, and one for a boy), but I don't want to have a name entirely picked out... I'd like to have a few that we like to pick from when the baby is born, especially since we'll know the gender ahead of time (I want some element of surprise).  Let me tell you.... being a teacher (especially a teacher that teaches and remembers the names of 500 kids) and trying to find good baby names is incredibly difficult!!  When going through lists of names I nix about every other one because "I teach/taught a ____ and he/she is too ______".  Don't get me wrong, it's not like I dislike every student I teach... but they all have their own personalities and have all left their own impressions in my mind.

On top of that I find going through baby name lists difficult and painful! Again, about every other names leaves me like "what are people thinking!?!" I mean "Barnabas"... at least it's not "Apple" or something, but come on... I guess I like fairly common names, but I don't want a name that's so common it's a top 10 name... I don't want my child to have to be "Jason F" or "Amanda F" their whole life because there's always another person with their name.  (Yes, Jason was the #1 name for pretty much all of the 80s so he always had several Jasons in his class, and even at work). 

So, in search of more "common" names I have turned to Facebook friend lists instead of baby name lists... and yes, you're own Facebook friend list may not be safe!  It seems to be a good way to find long lists (though, thankfully, not 100,000+ long lists) of fairly normal names, AND it gives me a good idea of the overly common names (Laura, for example, is friends with 9 Davids and 1 Dave... how did you manage that by the way??).

In any case I think we're still pretty much at square one.  I did find a cool website though that I'll eventually post a link to where I can list all the names we're thinking of and people can vote on their favorites.  Of course, it will come down to what Jason and I prefer, but I'd love to see how certain names sit with other people.

So, week 16 now!  That means I will be posting a belly pic later this week!  For now you get to see what part of the fruit salad our Floodling is now, and read about what he or she is up to in my belly!

An avocado is longer than a naval orange I'm assuming, because in my mind it's certainly not  bigger...

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too and their tiny bones are forming meaning the little one can now pick up your voice. Eyebrows and eyelashes are forming, and the patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.