23 Weeks

Only 117 more days to go :)

There is not much new to report except that Baby Hall is becoming more active. We can see her kick on the outside of my stomach now. I swear there are some days were she is trying to bust her way out by kicking.

This week, she is 12.5 inches long - about the length of an ear of corn. She weighs about 1.25 pounds.

We purchased a crib and some bedding and took the time to put them together last weekend. That is all that is done in the nursery at this point, but at least it's something!

Baby Hall is a.....

GIRL! And thank goodness for that, because between Kevin and the animals, I am outnumbered 4 to 1!

I know you are all saying "But I thought you weren't going to find out?" Well, we were not going to find out, but we couldn't resist the temptation any longer! I was tired of buying gender neutral clothes because there really isn't a huge selection of green, yellow, and white. I think I own everything there is in those colors already. Although, you will definitely NOT find a closet full of pink clothes here. Pink is not really my thing... I did not have a preference either way, but I have known all along that it is a girl. Kevin was holding out hope for a boy, but he is excited about a girl too. At least that is what he tells me! :)

We had our ultrasound on Thursday but I have had the worst cold I have ever had, and really have just been sleeping since Tuesday, so I've had zero energy to talk to anyone or post online, except for the occasional Facebook post about how poorly I was feeling. Anyway, we had a good doctor appointment after the ultrasound. I will be 22 weeks on Monday, and baby is right on track. Based on her measurements, the due date is June 18, although they will keep my due date as June 20 because it's not a significant difference. Everything looked normal on the scan and there was nothing concerning. She has now passed the one pound mark, and is about 1.1 pounds, somewhere in the 50th percentile. I'm hoping for a nice size 6 pound baby who preferably makes her appearance before her due date... ha! We will see how that works out...

I have been concerned about my weight gain, because I'm actually only at a gain of about two pounds since I lost some weight early on. The doctor said that he is not concerned about it because baby's measurements are exactly where they need to be. He is confident that I will start gaining more soon...

Here are some ultrasound photos - we have SO many, but a lot of them are confusing to tell what I'm supposed to be looking at, so I decided not to post those :)

She is apparently VERY much like her mother and is a bit stubborn and doesn't really like her picture taken. She kept her arms in front of her face during most of the ultrasound and would never give us a full look at her face. But, we did get a glimpse for a split second. And no, she doesn't have any deformities, that is an arm and a hand in front of her face. It's a bit hard to tell still, but I think she's cute!

Another brief glimpse at her face, but a bit blurry.
It cracks me up because in the normal ultrasound her face makes me think of an alien face with the big black blobs where the eye sockets are. And yes, she was upside down the entire time.
Here you can see her head on the right with her arm up above it.
And more with her arms in front of her face. There was a pattern!
That object toward the top right is one of her feet. The feet are a little over an inch long, so about the size of the tip of your thumb.
I don't remember what this is of, but I think it's of her hands.
And here is one of her lower legs - she's really flexible at this point!
And here is one of her legs completely stretched out. Both the ultrasound tech and the doctor said "Wow, she has some long legs". I think we will have a tall one on our hands!
And here she is waving - you can see her fingers defined.

20 Weeks Down... 20 Weeks To Go!

It seems like it hasn't been that long! I don't have a picture this week, but I don't think much has changed anyhow. We are still doing great!

This week, baby will grow to 10.5 inches and 12.7 ounces. They say that is the size of a banana. Last week they said baby was the size of a small cantaloupe... I don't know how we went from cantaloupe to banana because that doesn't make much sense to me!

I have noticed that my appetite comes and goes. Some days I can't seem to get enough food, and other days I have to remind myself to eat. The one thing that I have struggled with this whole pregnancy is making sure I drink enough water. I have never been good about drinking water - it's just so bland and boring! I have been on a soda kick lately. I am allowed to have a certain amount of caffeine each day, so I have switched to decaf coffee so I can have a Coke every now and then. I do miss my Diet Coke, and that will most likely be one of the first things I have after baby is born!

We did manage to get to Babies R Us to register, so if you are interested, you can check out our registry here: Registry I know that not everyone has a Babies R Us near them, but I didn't want to register in different places. It's much easier to keep track of everything when it's all at the same place. The nice thing is that they have almost everything online and offer free shipping most of the time.