32 weeks, 3 days = HUGE!

"Prenatal Peek" - 32 weeks, 2 days

My mom is in town visiting for the weekend so Marc and I decided it would be fun to visit "Prenatal Peek" to see how our boy is doing!  We got these amazing pictures below - he was very interested in playing with his hands and feet so it was difficult to get clear shots of his face but we managed to get some good ones.  You can see he even stuck his tongue out at us.  Baby boy has hair, is 4 pounds 10 ounces, is in the 64th%tile overall for size, and 85th %tile for head size (not surprising - Marc and I both have huge heads)!  He is doing great and we are more excited than ever!

February 21; 23 weeks 4 days

Since the plane ride from Becca’s wedding (2/6) I have been feeling baby move every day, several times a day.  Since Suki felt the baby, I knew it was possible to feel him from the outside if your timing was perfect.  Well, Marc finally was in the right place at the right time and felt baby move today!  He got 3 kicks in a row and loved it.  It was so cool to see this connection finally happen.  Marc was very jealous of Suki since she got to feel him first!   Now Marc and Suki are part of a very elite club together.  I’m going back to FL soon for Michael’s March 5 wedding and I’m hoping some more people get to feel him!

February 17; 23 Weeks

Today we went to Raleigh to the Wake County Library book sale.  We bought 45 books for baby!  We need more books, especially the classics that every baby needs, but we now have a nice foundation for our library.  We also ordered a dresser and rocker today.  This is suddenly all very real!

February 5, 6, and 7; 21 1/2 weeks

This weekend was Becca’s wedding in FL and we had a lot of fun.  It was the first time seeing family since Thanksgiving so we had a nice bump to show off!  This was my first experience being pregnant in hot weather and I unfortunately learned that I instantly swell.  Something to look forward to as I get bigger and it gets hotter in NC!  Sunday I left FL to fly home by myself because Marc was staying in FL for a few extra days to hang out.  On the plane ride home, baby gave me a solid 5 minutes of movement!  5 minutes doesn’t sound like a lot but it felt like forever!  Up until this point I had only been feeling random movements every couple of days and just 1 move at a time.   This solid 5 minutes felt like a lifetime compared to the occasional 5 seconds I was getting here and there!  I don’t know if the airplane had something to do with it or if it was just a coincidence but it was awesome!  The next day I was home lying on the couch with Suki; her head was on my belly and the baby kicked.  Suki felt it and hit my belly with her paw.  Too cute!  I can’t wait to see Suki and baby play together, they will be the sweetest pair in the world!

January 27; 20 weeks

Today was our 20 week checkup.  We had our ultra-sound and found out we are having a BOY!  It was such an incredible experience.  As soon as the ultrasound tech turned on the machine you could see it, plain as day, a penis!  More importantly, we found out everything is looking great with baby.  We saw his brain, heart, spine, and measured anything and everything we could.  He is in the 25^th% for size and everything looked great.  We are having a boy and he’s perfect!  We are so happy to be 20 weeks in and have everything looking so good.  We’re half way there!  We also got our first 4-D look at baby today.  He didn't want to stay still so it was hard to get a good picture but we got 1 which you can see.  Look at that nose and mouth - so cute!

January 14; 18 weeks 1 day

It was 3:10pm, and I was sitting in my classroom getting ready to leave for the day.  Suddenly, BOOM, a kick right to the stomach!  This was the first time I felt baby move and it was crazy!  It was one strong kick and that was it.  Our baby has strong legs!  It felt like a punch in my pelvis but it felt amazing.  The baby kicked!!!!

January 1; 16 weeks 2 days

On December 31 I had been complaining of a stomachache all day.  It wasn’t terrible so I ignored it.  We went out for dinner on New Year’s Eve, came home, and went to sleep.  At around 3:00am I was woken up by excruciating stomach and back pains.  I moved downstairs to the couch and stayed there in pain until 9:00.  After 6 hours with no improvement, I finally woke up Marc.  We decided to call the doctor on call and he said we should go to the E.R. to find out what was going on.  So, Marc decided that we should go to UNC Hospital even though my Dr. was at Durham Regional.  He figured it would be faster and he’d have more access to whatever we needed.  At around 10:00 we arrived at the E.R. and Marc took me in the back entrance.  He briefly spoke to a nurse and then took me into an exam room where he ultra-sounded me himself; there are very few benefits to being a resident and you have to take advantage of them all!  We could see fetal movement but that wasn’t enough reassurance for me so we then went to the front of the ER and went through the proper channels.  At 1:00 we were released from the E.R. with a diagnosis of…..stretching pains!  It was a huge relief to find out that everything was fine and it was just my uterus expanding.  I can handle the pain, I just needed to know everything was OK.  We were very happy to be sent home with good news.  3 days later I knew the doctors were right - my stomach popped!  All of a sudden the long anticipated belly arrived!