The Baby is Kicking!!!

On Sunday night I felt the baby's kick with my hand on my stomach for the first time! It was so amazing and I got teary when it happened. I had my Mom feel my stomach and she felt the baby strong kick a couple of times. Since then I've been able to feel the kicking about once a day. The baby is definately starting to kick more and being able to feel the kicking with my hand is just the best!

Tonight Matt felt the baby kick for the first time... he felt just one kick, but he had a huge smile on his face when he felt it! The baby seems to kick more in the morning and at night so I'm sure Matt will get to feel a lot more kicks soon!

Shaye is 1!!!

Shaye turned 1 on Setptember 22! I can't believe it's been a whole year already!!! I was in town for her birthday celebration and was thrilled to get to spend most of the day with her on her actual birthday! Bethany, Shaye and I went to a local farmer's market and then headed to a park for a picnic lunch and some playtime. The park we went to had wood chips instead of sand, so Shaye was trying her best to get handfuls of wood chips into her mouth... I think we got most of them out, but I think she got a few down! After her afternoon nap, Ryan came home early from work and we headed over to the District to play in the mini pop-up water fountains. Shaye loved it and got soaked from head to toe! And stuck her face in the path of the water shooting up... it was hysterical to watch! She had so much fun!

I brought over Shaye's birthday gift from Matt and I so that she could have a present to open on her actual birthday. Although she was most interested in the bow I put on it than the actual gift, but in time I think she'll come to love it. We got her one of those "recordable books" from Hallmark. Matt and I recorded our voices reading the bedtime story so that she can hear our voices and get used to them. Everyone who saw it thought it was such a great idea! I think in time Shaye will love it too, but for now she doesn't have the patience to stop on each page to hear us.

Sunday was her birthday party with family and few close friends. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate and it was nearly 100 degrees!!! So it was a bit crowded in the house, but it worked out just fine. The best part of the day was Shaye devouring her birthday cake. At first she wasn't sure what it was, but after Bethany fed her a couple of fingers of frosting, it was on!!! Both hands were shoving fistfuls of cake in her mouth as quickly as possible! She literally had a beard of frosting on her face and it was the most hysterical sight I've ever seen! She really takes after her mother and that sweet tooth! For those of you on Facebook, check out my profile page where I posted a video of her! Bethany and Ryan were so thrilled to have that moment live up to all their expectations!!!

Halfway There!!!

I am 20 weeks along today... halfway home! And I felt a "fluttering" of the baby moving last night! I think I have felt it a couple of times in the last several days, but last night was the first time that I was sure of it! Very excited to feel the baby start to move more and more... definately makes it feel more real and amazing!

According to my "Expecting" book, the baby is about 6 1/2 inches (crown to rump) long and about 10 ounces in weight. And we could find out the sex by now... if we wanted to!! The baby has lots of room right now to move around so I'm hoping I'll be feeling him/her more often soon!

The pictures below I took this morning to show the growing bump!!

2nd Trimester Ultrasound

Today, in addition to our 19 week doctor's visit, we had the 2nd trimester ultrasound. In this ultrasound they go through the baby from head to toe, measuring everything from skull size, jaw bones, arm and leg bones and can even tell if the baby has a cleft palette or club foot! In addition, it's a chance to make sure the spine and heart chambers look good. The baby wasn't really cooperative during this process wanting to flip around and put it's hand up to cover the face. I found it strange that I could see the baby moving all around and yet can't feel the movement yet... although it should be any day now and I can't wait!!!

The ultrasound tech we had this time was thorough, but I didn't like her nearly as much as the guy we've had twice before. She was pleasant, but not very personable and was very "by the book"... whenever I would ask how things were looking, she just would say "you have to ask the doctor". Thankfully the doctor said all the measurements were normal and that everything looked good! They are estimating the baby to be 9 oz right now, which is right on track.

One thing they did discover is that I have 3 fibroid masses (1 was discovered on my first ultrasound). Two are connected outside the uterus and one is down near the cervix. The only concern with the one at the cervix is that it could block the baby's way out, but they feel it's not a big concern right now. Often these masses either shrink during the 3rd trimester, or the baby is able to make it's way past it during labor since everything is so flexible. They also found a cyst on my ovary, but again aren't too concerned about it since it's fairly common. They are going to have me have an ultrasound every 4 weeks through the end of the pregnancy just to track the size of the fibroids, cyst and baby and make sure everything is ok. Because of my age and the fact that I had some low placenta hormone levels, I was going to have some extra screenings anyway, so now this just makes for more opportunities to see the baby!!!

Below are the best pictures from today... The first is a 4D shot, but the baby seems camera shy! The second is a profile picture, and the last is my favorite... the baby is on it's head (the head is on the bottom, the spine goes up to the right and the butt is on top!)... a position the baby remained in for awhile so it was hard to get some measurements!!!

Afterwards, we headed to my doctor's office for our monthly visit. My sugar level was a little up, so I just need to watch my sugar intake a bit. I'll have a glucose test at 24 weeks to check for any signs of gestestional diabetes. Thankfully I only gained 2 lbs this month (I've gained a total of 8 lbs so far)! I was thrilled with that!!! I was so happy to hear that the baby is growing and that everything looked great!!! I'm looking forward to seeing the baby again in a month!!!