18 Weeks!

Hello There!

If you haven't heard, Sweet P is a little boy! I still can not believe it and frequently say to Matt, "Can you believe we are having a boy?" "Yes." Is always his response to my neurotic rambling. For whatever reason, I just could not imagine having a little boy in the mix, especially being raised with all girls and having all nieces. I can tell you one thing; every day is going to be an adventure. 

I kind of rushed through the exciting noise and didn't do my normal week-to-week post, so I will catch you up on growth and new happenings now. 

This week has been great. And by great, I mean awesome. As you know, I have been counting down the day when Matt would return home and Baby P would be revealed. Well, this was the week! Matt (as I always say) is the best husband and surprised me by coming home early! He got home Monday morning and slept all day after driving 48 hours straight. I worked while he rested and then Tuesday came along and the opportunity presented itself for us to be able to learn baby's gender one day early! Of course, we took it. 

So, I'll give you my best representation of how excited we were to find out he is a he. I told you about the OJ and how I chugged a bottle of it before we went in for the ultrasound. We sat through the routine checkup. Weight. Blood Pressure. Bla bla bla. And then the ultrasound technician (Laurie) told us that everything was moving in the right direction (obviously out for me, but also in a healthy direction for baby). Yay. This was of course all good news, however I could hardly concentrate (and I think Matt was feeling the same) because what we were waiting for was Girl or Boy?! Laurie finally paused the ultrasound in a position that a trained professional could examine baby's gender. She asked, "Okay! Do you have any guesses?" Do we have guesses? What do you mean? How are we suppose to tell when we of course want to yell what we think, but looking at the screen we wouldn't know if we were looking at a baby or a tunnel of shadows? We sat there in silence as she placed an arrow at baby's parts and then began to type 

"It's A B...o...y!"

You can probably imagine my surprise! I screamed at the top of my lungs and then started hysterically crying. Matt and I sat there, surrounded by laugher and tears, in disbelief that we could possibly be having a little man. A little nugget who will wear cowboy boots, watch football with dad, and tell mom that she's beautiful. One that will get in trouble, dig in the dirt, and love to listen to dad's band. A boy who will give me a run for my money, make Matt and me laugh, and give us the satisfaction that we are living life as we have always wanted, as a family with children. 

I am beyond thankful, I am beyond excited, and I am beyond speechless. What am I counting down to now? Well, I want to feel little guy move. I want to dress him in the footed pjs that my mom, sisters and Kirsten gave us this weekend, and I want to walk in to his room in the morning and see his smiling face and messy bed head hair. We are so blessed. I can not imagine how I will feel when he is actually here, in our arms! 

As we sat there, Laurie says, "Are these tears of joy?" We exclaimed, "YES!" and she said, "good because I have NO DOUBT that he is a little boy. He is not hiding anything!"

This is no surprise. If you know Matt... he is not shy.

If you look close, in both pictures he has his legs spread wide... 

showing us exactly who he is!

SO FUNNY!

Hello from BabyCenter! Head to rump, your baby is approximately 5 1/2 inches long(about the length of a bell pepper) and 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. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, although he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.>> Read more about this week Quick Clicks • Are you feeling the baby kick yet? • When is it too late to travel by airplane? • What's the safe way to wear a seat belt now? • Inspired baby names Overheard in your birth club "I just found out that I'm having a girl — finally, after two miscarriages. I think I felt her move today. I had my ultrasound and everything was fine, at last!" — Nicky >> See what others are saying at 18 weeks Your baby at 18 weeks Your baby's ears now stand out from his head.

Your Baby:

• Is about the size of a baked potato — five-and-a-half inches long.
• Has actual cute little ears and working ear bones and can hear sounds through the amniotic fluid — similar to how things sound to you underwater.
• Is moving, moving, moving. The baby is still small enough that you may not feel every kick and punch yet, but the movements will start getting less “bubble-like” and more “holy crap, that was totally a foot” pretty soon, if they aren’t already.

You:

• May notice some dizziness from time to time, especially if you stand up too quickly or go too many hours without a good snack. Try to stay hydrated and remember to eat every few hours — good stuff like yogurt, nuts, fruits, veggies and cheese. Empty calories like chips and junk food will just make the dizziness worse, not better.
• Might be getting a little uncomfortable at night. The best sleeping position for pregnancy is on your side (when you lie on your back you compress the blood flow to your uterus), but as your pelvis changes and your abdomen gets heavier this can get awfully hard on your hips and legs. Try sleeping with a small pillow between your knees or lower thighs — I finally grabbed a small decorative pillow from our bed and found it made all the difference in the world without taking up too much room or making me feel too hot at night like regular pillows or those full-body maternity pillows did last time. (While very comfortable, trying to roll over with one of those big things was just a giant exercise in AWK-WARD.)
• Oh, and let’s discuss our bladders too. You might soon find yourself at that lovely stage when you just can’t seem to fully empty your bladder in a single bathroom run. I don’t know whether there’s just something baby-related blocking the exit or what, but I pee and then stand up and realize that I STILL have to pee. I remember hitting this point last time and using a trick Heather Armstrong described at Dooce — lean allllll the way forward while peeing, with your torso as parallel to the floor as you can manage. It really works, and now every time I pee I wonder how any woman ever managed to make it through pregnancy without the Internet.

Excuse the wet hair. We were rushing to leave Tallahassee for Thanksgiving.

How far along?: 18 Weeks; 6 Days

Total weight gain/loss: +12 Lbs. (LOL)

Maternity clothes?: NO! Not yet. I am trying to 
avoid them like the plague. I wear a lot of leggings 
and baggy sweaters, belted. 

Stretch marks?: No... Matt is so sweet. He is 
my "put your lotion on your belly" reminder, every 
night.

Sleep: Awesome! Hubby is back so I am not 
sleeping alone and the pee awakenings have subsided.

Best moment this week: Matt and I found out our 
Sweet P is a BOY!

Miss Anything?: BEER! Bloody Marys! Red Wine. 
Especially since this is holiday time!

Movement: Who knows?! Gas bubbles? Baby 
Dancing? I don't know. I am waiting for the punch!

Food cravings: They have definitely relaxed a 

little. Cheese is still up there.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope :)

Have you started to show yet: Yes, absolutely... 

from the front only though. 

Gender: A PROUD LITTLE BOY!

Labor Signs: No

Wedding rings on or off?: On, hands are getting 

a little smaller?

Belly Button in or out?: In... but not for much 

longer. It is definitely flattening. Haha.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy! So Happy. 
We are blessed; we all (3) are healthy!

Looking forward to: Feeling that little guy kick! 
Shopping.. shopping.. shopping!

Until Next Time,

LP