and we are viable!

And here she is all bendy and flexible already. I had my 24 week ob appt today and they finished up the 20 ultrasound which means I got some more looks at the doll. She is growing well, as am I, and looks great!! I got to see her face and watched her drink. I could see her open and close her mouth and even saw her move her tongue. She still prefers the position in the picture to the right, with her legs crossed and bent in half.                                                                        

 And as the post title says we have reached viability!! As a nicu RN it is a big deal to reach this point. So heaven forbid something should happen but if she was born anytime she could survive outside of me. But we want and need her to stay put for another few months. And as of now I do not see that being a problem. I am not having any contractions, other than the usual Braxton Hicks (false contractions). She is super active and it's hard to believe that she is about a pound or more now. So weird to see baby's at her gestation and know that is about her size inside of me. It's great to feel her move and I can't wait to share that with the IF's.

And here I am at 24 weeks, growing and expanding. I am feeling good. No nausea or vomiting and minimal pain from the hernia. It acts up here and there but for the most part just looks funny. I am having aches and pains more after working or a busy day but nothing that is not to be expected. Lucky for me my sister is spoiling me for my birthday on Wednesday with a prenatal massage! I can not wait to be pampered!! I am starting to get my appetite back and really getting a sweet tooth. I am still craving sweet fruit, strawberries especially. No weird cravings yet but I can't watch late night food network because just about everything they make looks good and makes me hungry. I am even starting to gain some weight. It's not too much yet, which I am ok with but I am sure the pounds are comin. I finally gave in and went out and bought maternity clothes. With the weather changing my regular jeans werent cutting it anymore and my shirts were getting a bit short. I bought all comfy clothes so that as winter comes hopefully I can continue to grow into them.

One last picture to leave you with. It's difficult when you just look at it but I'll try to describe it. This is a picture of the doll baby's face. Dead center and white is her nose, below that the black half smile. Abover her nose is an eye socket on the right, black in color and to the left is another eye socket white in color. It's difficult to see as a still picture but was super cute to see on the ultrasound.

 



23 weeks and growing!

Here I am, 23 weeks and growing! I am feeling good. My appetite is increasing, I'll be curious to see at my next doctor appointment if my weight increases too. Up to this point I am down about 3 pounds from my starting point, 9 weeks pregnant. I am not too worried because the baby has always measured right on and as you can see I have the tummy to prove that she is growing.

I am starting to get cravings again. I love love yogurt and fruit. Still bananas remain a staple of my diet. I also am starting to get my sweet tooth back. I was scouring the stores earlier this week for pumpkin ice cream and I found it. All it took was a bowl to satisfy my craving and I haven't had it since then. I am really trying to eat as healthy as I can but this is getting hard. I wake up in the middle of the night only to want cereal or jello or weird things that I know we do not have in the house. For the most part the cravings are the fun part of being pregnant.

My umbilical hernia continues to hurt off and on. I can have a really good day and then out of the blue I hurt, and hurt and there is nothing that I can do to keep the pain down. The doctor continues to say put an abdominal binder on to hold down the hernia but that hasn't seemed to help. For the most part it really only hurts when I eat, walk a lot, or stand... so not to often.

The little princess is moving like crazy. I can lay down and feel her wiggle and kick constantly. I can even start to see movement on the outside of my tummy. My kids are dying to feel the baby kick so now that she is getting stronger they will put their hands to my stomach and wait... most of the time they don't have the patience to wait long enough to feel her kick but soon they will. I can't wait to share that feeling with the dads.

It's crazy to me that as of Sunday this baby will be viable. That is a huge milestone for a NICU RN. When I say viable I mean that she could live outside of me and survive. But we have had some serious talks and she will not be making an appearance for a lot of more weeks. I see and work with babies that are about 24 weeks and its surreal to know that's what she looks like inside of me.

A very long overdue update!

   I know that I haven't posted in a while but things are moving right along. From weeks 17-19 I really didn't feel like myself. I was super moody, per my husband, always wanting to lay down, and never wanting to do anything with anyone. I am not sure why I was so out of it, whether it be that I was feeling so crappy, or just a funk I was in. My family couldn't do much right, my friends were non existent and I just wanted to be. But I am 21 weeks now and finally starting to feel normal again. Well as normal as you can when you are pregnant. I have a bit more of an appetite, yeah! I haven't taken my nausea medicine in over 1 1/2 weeks, knock on wood, and I am rarely nauseous!! I continue to feel a little better each day and hope it continues. My husband also says I am in a much better mood more often and my kids and I are doing more activities as I feel better so that really helps.
   Last week I went to the OB for my normal check up and all is good. I have an umbilical hernia that is now causing me pain, as I grow and stretch, but it is so hit or miss. But when it hurts it really really hurts. And of course it seems to bother me most when I am working and the only thing that relieves the pain is lying down and of course I can't do that at work so for now I just deal with it. The OB said that the worst time with my hernia will be this next coming month so I really hope it doesn't bother me too much.
   Also at the OB last week we got our big 20 week ultrasound!! The dads got to come up and it was a quick visit but a good one. It was pretty funny cause they haven't seen me since the 9 week ultrasound and the first thing that one of them said was "wow you have a belly!" Luckily I take that as a good thing in this situation. We got such great news... baby is healthy! We got to see all kinds of details and it was amazing! As the tech scanned me it was awesome to see the dads face and just take in all the excitement. I could tell they were a bit overwhelmed with the whole ultrasound but so nice to hear that baby is growing great and looking good. I am constantly reassured with all the kicks that I am feeling but it is nice to see it for ourselves.

And here is the little PRINCESS!

Yes that's right it's a GIRL!!!

Me and the proud papas right after we found out!

After all the good news it really started to sink in that we are over half way there and things will start happening before you know it. There is still so much to discuss and so many plans to make. But it is all very exciting for us all. I am hoping to get to go to Utah, (the dads home) for either a baby shower or a quick visit to meet the families of these two guys. And we are hoping for another visit up here to meet my kids and family. It seems like we have tons of time but really delivery will sooner than we think, but not too soon. I have never made it to my due date and really I am not expecting this time to be any different.

I promise I will try to post more pictures, including a baby bump pic, as soon as I get a good one. Really soon I hope.