I thought I was going to do a better job of keeping up on this, but I haven't.
Highlights recently:
-I felt nauseous until about 16 weeks. Then I had about a two week break, before it came back a bit. These days, I feel a lot better, with a subtle amount of nausea at certain times of the day or night, but overall, MUCH better than before. Of course, I did throw up this morning.
-At 16 weeks and 1 day I felt the first "bubbles," which is one of the many descriptions I had read of that first feeling of the baby moving. I was surprised to feel it so soon because I had read that you normally feel it between 16 and 20 weeks, but usually at least at 18. It started subtle, and slowly got more obvious.
-This last weekend I felt the first kick that was definitely more than just the "bubbles." I finally could feel the kicking from the outside and not just inside. Michael has been able to feel a few kicks so far, although usually by the time I feel the kicking and call him into the room the baby stops. :)
-We switched doctor offices and have now had two appointments at the new place. I'm MUCH happier with the new office. It wasn't that the last one was horrible, but this one is so much more friendly and helpful. It's a group, so there are two doctors and two nurse practitioners. It was recommended to me by a number of different friends from church and work, and I'm very glad I switched.
-As of yesterday, I've gained 21 pounds in 21 weeks!!! Yikes! I've been a bit paranoid about that, but for the most part my doctor(s) haven't seemed too concerned. I'm realizing I need to be more active in the evenings when I come home and not eat dinner and sit on the couch all night. I really haven't felt like I've been eating a ton, or using my pregnancy to eat like crazy, so, I blame it on a few things: When I got pregnant, I was in the best shape I've been in in years (I hadn't seen that low of a number on the scale since my freshmen year of college...I had been working out a lot); I got pregnant the same month I started my new, full-time job which has left me extra exhausted; I also got pregnant in the same month that I started eating desserts again after a year-long fast. So, I'm trying to keep active and be aware of my eating. Below is a picture of me today, followed by a picture of me at 5 or 6 weeks, to show the contrast.
-And the most exciting update: We had our ultrasound yesterday! We were able to take a DVD and have most of the ultrasound recorded, so we have our own copy of our baby moving, kicking, swallowing, and even yawning! It was incredible!! And of course, we wanted to find out the gender...I wanted to wait to post this until I had the pictures and video uploaded, but in the meantime, I won't keep you in suspense.
It's a Girl! MANY people guessed boy, including most of our family, but alas, a Chapman girl is on her way, and we couldn't be more excited! For the last few years we have always thought we'd really want a boy first, but over the past few months we've imagined the idea of a girl, to the point that we could think of plenty of girl names, and no boy names! And, every time I picture Michael holding a baby, I've been picturing a girl. So for us, this fits. It just feels "right." We are SUPER excited and can't wait to meet our baby girl! I'll try to post pictures of the ultrasound soon. They are much more exciting than the 8 week picture of a "blob." :)
