The Sixteen-Week Belly

It's growing...

See how my belly button is already sticking out? Yikes! I cannot fit into many of my pants anymore -- at least not without the use of the BellaBand. I have one pair of jeans that I can somehow still button, and one other pair of pants that fits comfortably when fastened. I pulled out and organized all of the maternity clothes over the weekend, in preparation for my being in them very soon.

Sixteen Weeks

I hit the sixteen-week mark on Saturday, and though I thought I felt movement earlier, I know without a doubt that I was feeling the little one pressing on my lower abdomen during my discipleship group last night. So cool!

According to BabyCenter, I should get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, the baby will double its weight and add inches to its length. Right now, it is about the size of an avocado (it just seems so wrong now that I have been eating so many of those lately!). Its legs are much more developed, its head is more erect than it has been, and its eyes have moved closer to the front of its head. The baby's ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of its scalp has begun, though its locks are not yet recognizable. He/she has even started growing toenails. And there is a lot happening inside as well. For example, its heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as the baby continues to develop.

We got the results of Jarrett's blood draw, and his blood type is A-positive, which means I definitely need to get the Rh immunoglobulin injection (Rhogam) at one of my next appointments. Oh well, at least we now actually know what his blood type is, which is nice. Now I just wish I knew what Elsa's is. You would think they would tell you that at the birth, but I do not remember them doing so, which is kind of strange since I should have received another injection after her birth had she been positive, and I certainly do not remember a shot of any type. But, again, I could have just been delusional. They probably even told me her blood type... who knows.

I am certainly not as wrapped up in this pregnancy as I was with the first. I am sure that has something to do with the fact that I am already chasing a two-and-a-half-year old around most days, and we already have all of the stuff, so there is not that excitement of getting to register for all of the baby items the first time around. I am still enjoying it, though, and now that I am actually feeling the baby every now and again, it makes things much more real. And I cannot wait to find out the gender.

Other excitement surrounds some plans for child-free weekends with Jarrett in the near future. The official "babymoon," if you want to call it that, is a trip we have scheduled for June to go to Jamaica. We are going to spend four nights at a rental house in Silver Sands, where we have stayed before (different house, but same location). We plan on lazing around on the beach together for most all of that time, aside from a little guided bamboo rafting trip we have planned for one-half of one day. The fact that the houses there come with staff who cook and clean for you makes the ability to really relax much more feasible. I cannot wait. Aside from that, though, my wonderful parents decided they are willing to drive halfway our direction to meet us in Greenville, South Carolina, and take Elsa home with them for three nights, the weekend after next. Jarrett and I were originally thinking we might go to Savannah since he has never been, or even head to the Asheville area again, but in the end we decided we are just going to turn right back around and drive home. There are so many restaurants here around Atlanta that we have yet to try, and many museums and activities that we have yet to experience. So it is going to be a total foodie/cultural weekend, just the two of us. And it is going to be fabulous. We have already started making restaurant reservations.

Other than that, we are just kind of taking each day as it comes. We are working on getting the exterior of our house painted, gutters replaced, and some yard cleanup underway. We are enjoying Elsa, and trying to imagine what things will be like with yet another. And we are excited to find out.

Fifteen Weeks

As of yesterday, I am fifteen weeks pregnant. I had an appointment on Wednesday with the midwives, and this time had the opportunity to meet Amy. Although maybe a bit more serious and certainly not motherly like Margaret, she was very nice and answered all of my questions. Of course at this point I would still love to know that Margaret will be at the birth, but there are, obviously, never any guarantees. That became much clearer in the past couple of weeks, as poor, dear Margaret both broke her ankle and lost her husband to a fatal heart attack, each just within fifteen minutes of each other. Not only does she have to deal with the heartache of losing her companion, but also has to put no weight on her ankle for eight weeks. My heart goes out to her and everything she is having to deal with right now.

The appointment went well. I peed in a cup (must have been fine), was weighed (I weighed 129 pounds, up 2 pounds from the February 16 appointment), and had my blood pressure taken (100/70). Amy came in and we went over some questions I had, primarily having to do with exercise and how much is too much when it comes to things like jogging and yoga. I can basically do whatever feels okay, and when it comes to yoga I just need to stay away from inversions (so no worries there!). We also talked about sleep and the fact that I am already waking up uncomfortable, which seemed way too early to me, but she said that most often the things that made you uncomfortable the first go around begin much sooner the second time. Lovely. That is certainly holding true thus far for me. Thankfully I seem to be pretty lucky with pregnancy (knock on wood), but I am dealing with the tossing and turning and heartburn at this point. After the question/answer period, Amy listened for the baby's heartbeat, and claimed it sounded like "a very happy baby."

Jarrett came with me to this appointment, with hopes that we could have his blood drawn to find out his blood type. Thankfully, unlike the last go around with Elsa, they complied, as Margaret said would be the case, and they took his blood. So we should find out the results of that test, and whether I'll need the Rh immunoglobulin injection, at my next appointment. Jarrett has had a bit of a history of feeling faint after having blood drawn (as have I), but he seemed completely fine after this draw. That is, until we were actually outside, walking to the car. Then he went completely white and said we needed to hurry so he could sit down in the car. Thankfully we made it before he decided to crash to the concrete parking deck floor, and once he was seated in the car, I ran back inside to find a vending machine and buy him a Coke. That seemed to help well enough until we could go get lunch, but he still was not feeling great. It's weird -- he is not afraid of needles and is not bothered at all by the actual injection. Our family doctor told him that some people's bodies just do not like blood being taken out of them, so I guess this is just something some people have to do deal with.

I will not go back to the midwife for another six weeks, on April 27. At that time they will schedule the greatly anticipated ultrasound, where we will hopefully be able to find out the gender of the baby. Amy said See Baby seems to be able to get patients in within a week, so I am hoping I will not have to wait long, and hopefully we will know by the end of April or the first week of May.

As far as the baby goes, BabyCenter says the baby now measures about four inches long, crown to rump, and weighs in at about two-and-a-half ounces (about the size of an apple). It is busy moving amniotic fluid through its nose and upper respiratory tract, which helps the primitive air sacs in its lungs begin to develop. The baby's legs are growing longer than its arms now, and it can move all of its joints and limbs. Although its eyelids are still fused shut, apparently the baby can sense light, and if I was to shine a flashlight at my tummy, it would likely move away from the beam. There's not much for the baby to taste at this point, but it is forming taste buds. And they say that if I was to get an ultrasound at this point, the gender could likely be detected. Oh well -- still have to wait a few weeks!

Twelve Weeks

I hit the 12-week mark in the pregnancy this past Saturday, and am already feeling some of my energy coming back. For awhile there I really felt the need for a nap nearly everyday, especially if I was intending at all to stay up past 8:30 or 9:00 at night. The need for napping has seemed less crucial in the last week or so, though I still found myself falling asleep on my parents' couch in the evenings while visiting them last week.

According to BabyCenter, the little one is about the size of a lime, at just over two inches long. Its reflexes are developing this week, and its fingers will soon begin to open and close, toes will curl, eye muscles will clench, and its mouth will make sucking movements. The baby's intestines, which have grown so fast that they protrude into the umbilical cord, will start to move into its abdominal cavity about now, and its kidneys will begin excreting urine into his bladder. Meanwhile, nerve cells are multiplying rapidly, and synapses are forming furiously in the baby's brain. Its face looks unquestionably human; its eyes have moved from the sides to the front of its head, and its ears are right where they should be.

I swear I felt movement a couple of days in a row last week, though it seemed kind of early. And I have not really felt much since, so perhaps it was something else I was feeling.

Overall, things are going really well. I bought some cute new maternity clothes at an outlet over the weekend, so am feeling a little better about my "regular" pants fitting more tightly these days. A little.