Baby Growth: This week Baby A is the size of a large tomato! According to the weekly updates, the baby is six inches in size (head to rump) and eight and a half ounces. However, at the ultrasound Baby A was already at ten ounces! The tech also told us I am measuring four days ahead.
The brain is designating specialized areas for smell, taste, hearing, vision, and touch. The arms and legs are in the right proportions to each other and the rest of it's body now. Kidneys continue to make urine and the hair on the scalp is sprouting. A waxy protective coating called the vernix caseosa is forming on the skin to prevent it from pickling in the amniotic fluid. An "all natural" wrinkle cream!
My Symptoms: All of my friends who have had babies told me that the second trimester I would have "so much more energy." Well, with only a few weeks left in this trimester I feel exhausted! Every afternoon this week I came home and crashed on the couch with my feet up.
My acne is pretty much non-existent now! Whoo-hoo!!! I was really struggling with that because I have never had skin issues and it was really making me feel super ugly.
I still have a head ache pretty much everyday and a stuffy nose! Tylenol has been a life saver to help ease the headaches.
Even though I don't feel that awesome, it is TOTALLY worth it! When I think about what is going on inside my body I'm in awe. It's just a daily reminder of our Creator and His awesomeness!
Weight: I am SO happy to report that at my doctor's appointment I had only gained three pounds! That puts me at a total of eight pounds gained. I was super nervous while I was in the waiting room, like sweating nervous! What a relief to know I had met my goal.
When I met with Dr. Lake he told I was doing awesome with the weight amount and that the next time I come (four weeks) I would probably gain between six and ten! I almost fell off the bed! Brian almost got un-invited to the ultrasound because he told Dr. Lake that all I do is sit around and eat brownies!!! They were both cracking up and picking on me; I was so embarassed! He knows how I really am, so it was funny to see the two of them joking. Brian loves my doctor and I am SO thankful because I talk him up pretty highly to everyone.
Gender: Drum Roll please. Baby Adams is a.............
We are SO excited that Baby A can now be called a "he!" The ultrasound was one of the biggest highlights of my life. It was so neat to see his brain, heart, organs, and my favorite- his feet! The ultrasound tech (who is amazing) checked every tiny inch of his body and assured us that he is perfectly healthy; praise the Lord! When we started the ultrasound he was facing me, hands close to his head and laying on my bladder sound asleep. After pushing him a little he rolled over and yawned...melt my heart! He was stretching and kicking like a wild man so it was super easy for her to tell us what the gender was. I was totally surprised, but extremely happy!!! Brian is the last male "Adams" so he is pumped to be able to pass along his last name.
Maternity Clothes: My jeans and I have put our relationship on hold for a few months and I am ALL about some maternity jeans and yoga pants! I still have a couple of black dress pants that I can wear but they are not very comfortable. I am wearing my normal shirts with the maternity tanks I bought to wear underneath for a little extra length in fabric.
Movement: Saturday was a lazy day for me, and while I was sitting on the couch reading I felt a few flutters in my lower belly. I stopped to see if it was gas, but figured it was too low for that and then it did it again! I have no doubt it was him moving around. It's very light and I can only feel it when I'm sitting and very still, but I have felt it multiple times every day since. Brian is having a fit to feel him, hopefully only a couple more weeks and he can experience it too.
Sleep: This week has been my worst week with staying asleep. I have a lot on my mind with the house and Christmas, so it's hard to shut my mind off. I toss and turn all night, poor Brian is taking it like a champ though and not complaining. I only get up once (if then) to pee. I'm probably getting between 6-7 hours of sleep each night, and longer on the weekends. I've also noticed I am burning up at night. I only want the sheet on me and unfortunately no cuddling except with my body pillow. I sleep the best on my left side, but wake up on my back most mornings.
Cravings: Sweet tea, buffalo sauce, and blue cheese. The peppermint chocolate milkshake from Chick-fil-a has been pretty great too!
Best Pregnancy Moment This Week: Telling everyone that Baby A is a BoY! We were going to do a fun gender reveal party at a local restaurant with our families two weekends from the day we found out, but I could not keep it in! I'm usually really good at keeping other people's secrets but my own was SO hard. We ended up making a sign and had my mom take the picture, she was shocked it was a boy! Brian called his parents and then we sent the picture via text messages to all of our friends and other family members. It was really neat to see/hear everyone's responses; most everyone was shocked!
I love that mom is having two grandsons who will be very close, they will be in to everything! She better enjoy how her house looks now at Christmas because this time next year all the little knick-knacks may have to be put away!
Questions/Concerns: I was worried about my belly not growing, but the doctor assured me that in the next couple of weeks it would get a lot bigger!
I'm starting to feel nervous because I haven't really read any books yet about child birth, breast feeding, and taking care of a baby. My mind has been consumed on getting the house finished, but I plan on reading over the Christmas break. I know most of it will come naturally, but I want to be prepared and know what to expect.
Goals: Exercise 3-4 times next week. Start looking at nursery options. Take my prenatals every night.
