Week 22

This week, the baby weighs in at a whopping pound and measures nearly eight inches, about the size of a small doll. He can now perceive light and dark and can hear our voices, my heartbeat, and my gurgling stomach and the whoosh-whoosh of blood circulating through my body. Must be a warm, calming place to be (except when I'm yelling at Jantzi! haha).

At 22 weeks pregnant, my uterus is now about an inch above my belly button — growing by leaps and bounds. It definitely feels harder & more rounded... I haven't particularly noticed my feet growing, though... Jason's sister, Laura, said she changed a whole shoe size during pregnancy!!! crazy! Apparently, there's a pregnancy hormone called relaxin that helps loosen your pelvic ligaments (to make room for baby) but it expands ligaments all over your body (including your feet!) ... weird huh? My feet have definitely been sore & retaining a little fluid (edema) but I don't feel like they've grown at all............... What on earth would I do if I couldn't fit into my shoes that I've had for 10 years? lol.

He moves!!!

I officially felt the baby move tonight!

Like I said before, starting about a week ago I began having mild suspicions that things I felt may have been the baby moving... the first time I was sitting at my computer and all the sudden my stomach felt like it would if I were being called out onto stage.... only I wasn't nervous. I was sitting in my sweatpants and tee shirt in my dining room.... so I wondered if that was what people refer to as "fluttering." I couldn't quite explain it any other way. A couple days later, I would be sitting down and would periodically feel like I had to pee immediately and then it would go away for a couple seconds and come back again... so I wondered again.... "hmm... could that be the baby just pushing up against my bladder?"

But tonight!!!! Tonight I was sitting on the couch watching American Idle (catch the pun?) and I felt really strange "gas-like" sensations, only they didn't feel like they were in my stomach or in my intestines at all... it felt like it was in my belly... and if I had to describe it as "bubbles" they were each very distinct bubbles followed by that same "I have to pee" sensation. The two repeatedly came hand-in-hand. I guess Karson likes American Idol! (or maybe just the opposite! maybe that was his "vote" to "kick" someone off the show!)

Anyway... tonight.... for the first (official) time, I know I have unmistakably felt the baby move!

Week 21

The baby is about the size of a large banana now!!! (and I believe now we start measuring head to toe instead of crown to rump, which will make measurements by fruit more difficult....) — and speaking of bananas, if I eat one this week, there's a good chance the baby will get a taste, too. That's because he swallows a bit of amniotic fluid each day (for nutrition, hydration, and to practice digesting), so he eats whatever is on my menu. (I wonder if that means he likes Pepsi.... Pepsi has never tasted so good in my life as it has the past few weeks! And it STINKS because I have to be really cautious of how much I'm having due to the caffeine. I particularly like fountain soda which poses a problem in the "solution" people keep presenting me with which is, "why don't you just get caffeine free?" YEAH! I would! But no one sells it in fountain form or at any restaurants or anything! But thanks for your help!!!)

I think it's pretty cool that the baby has very developed taste buds already! I've read that researchers have noted that babies who were exposed to certain tastes in-utero via the amniotic fluid were more eager to eat foods with that same taste after birth! How cool is that? I guess I better start eating a lot of Broccoli and veggies so I don't have to struggle with him in 6 months or so! lol.

From what I read, the baby still has a lot of room in my womb right now — though like anyone who lives in one space for a long time, my little tenant will soon begin to feel cramped. :( But until the uterine walls start closing in, there's plenty of space for twisting, turning, and even an occasional somersault. I think I may have felt a little bit of fluttering last week.... I was sitting down doing bills and my stomach felt like I was being called out onto stage or something.... but I wasn't. I was in the comfort of my dining room, completely calm. So those little butterflies.... I believe may have been the first time I felt him move... but I'm not sure.

Anatomy Ultrasound!

So, today was the official anatomy ultrasound! After the past two weeks running around to and from the hospital and everything like a psycho getting no sleep, no rest, and unbalanced/untimely meals.... I was so afraid they were going to tell me something was horribly wrong with the baby.... Being at the high-risk doctor for this ultrasound didn't assuage that fear at all either....

When the technician turned the screen on, I was so shocked to see how much the baby had grown since my last ultrasound!!!! I mean, you expect that he'll grow, of course, but it was just shocking to see how much bigger and how much more human he looked!!! All of his measurements came out great again, everything measuring right on time and looking great! The doctor told me he didn't want to see me ever again (meaning that my blood tests were fine and I don't have any reason to be at the high-risk doctor...) So that was excellent news! The technician was able to clearly show me testicles AND penis this time.... so we're 100% sure it's a boy! (Congratulations to those of you in the majority on our guess-the-sex poll; and to those of you who went back and changed your vote after finding out inside information: shame on you!).

They printed me out one picture (cheap bastards!) so we'll have to scan it in and see if I can post it later... but it's very cute! You can sort of see what he's going to look like already! He has this little button nose and you can see his lips and that he has no chin (like mommy!). My sister Brooke said that she has an ultrasound picture of my nephew from around 20-22 weeks and his profile is identical to what it is now. I thought that was pretty cool :) Jason and my features are so similar that it's going to be tough at first to try to figure out what of whose he has (what of whose he has... say that 5 times fast! Sounds like Dr. Seuss) Anyway, our eyes aren't hugely different in shape and we both have light eyes (his green/hazel, mine blue... we're voting on the blue genes for that one)... our noses are very similar in shape... his is just bigger (obviously) because he's bigger and he's a boy and boys have bigger noses... but the shape and the bridge and everything are very similar. Our lips have similar shapes...and are both right in the middle as far as not-to-thin, not hugely full.... Our ears aren't that differently shaped and the earlobes connect the same way. We have the same hair color (pretty much exactly) and we both are extremely muscular.

So here are the differences... our wish list for God as far as the gene pool goes:

• I have blue eyes, Jason has hazel/green... both nice but if we had to pick, we'd pick blue!
• Jason and I both have nice teeth but Jason didn't need braces and my teeth SUCK as far as being soft and cavity-prone! They've always been that way (same as my mom's) and no matter what I do, I'm doomed. Jason could not brush his teeth a day in his life and never get a cavity. He didn't go to the dentist for 10 years and I MADE him go... no cavities. I was so pissed. I go every other day and they always find new surprises. So... JASON'S TEETH, JASON'S TEETH!!!!
• Jason's eyebrows are bushy and straight (good for a boy, bad for a girl...) Mine have a weird Dr. Spock shape... but they're not bushy, thick, & undefined so, a girl might appreciate that. :)
• Jason gets allergies in the spring but other than that, neither of us are allergic to anything really... But, no spring allergies would be a nice gene to pass on.
• My family is crazy... genetically predisposed to addiction (but that can be managed with a healthy fear of substances)... but the Bi-Polar/Depression piece isn't as easy to manage. We're PRAYING that gene doesn't get passed along... it seemed to miss me, so hopefully it misses my kiddos too.
• Jason has a butt-chin. Well, not a total butt-chin but there's an adorable dimple and I REALLY want our kids (especially boys) to inherit that gene! I love it!
• Jason has long beautiful fingers & hands (but appropriately manly)... my fingers are chubby & stubby... I have triangle fingers and meat-hook hands. So, I'd like ALL of our kids to have his hands (but a girlier version any girls...)!
• My mom is almost 53 and has 2 gray hairs that she savors.... I hope I inherited that gene! But it'd be nice for our kids to have that one too!
• Jason needs glasses and my eyes are better than 20/20. Actually, they were 20/12 last time I had them checked a year or so ago (which means I can see something 20 feet away from me as if it's 12 feet away! That's pretty sweet! Even if they get "worse" they're still getting closer to "perfect" before they go bad, lol).
  
• Perhaps the most obvious I've saved for last... I have musical ability... I have an ear for music and can pick up instruments pretty quickly, but Jason is incredible! I would be so excited if they inherited his singing ability & musical talent. The same goes the other way, Jason is pretty coordinated... he can pick up sports with a little practice and his accuracy & agility is pretty good... but my family has a pretty awesome athletic gene coarsing through! If Karson (or any of our kids) could inherit both of these genes, they'd be set! I don't think our kids will be struggling for smarts, so that shouldn't be an issue... but with the best of both of these worlds, plus the brains.... they'd be unstoppable! :)
  

Week 20

If, by chance, we're having a girl, her uterus is now fully formed and her ovaries are holding about seven million primitive eggs. If we are, in fact, having a boy, his testicles have begun their descent from the abdomen to the scrotum. The baby is about ten ounces, six and a half inches long now (about the size of a cantelope), but there's still plenty of growing room (somehow) in the oven, which allows him to twist and turn.
I've begun to notice that my fingernails are stronger and they grow REALLY fast! I just clipped them down to the finger and a week later they're long again! My hair all over my body is supposedly also thicker and fuller than usual as well (although I haven't particularly noticed that....) all thanks to pregnancy hormones and increased circulation, which furnish extra nutrients to hair and nail cells. I'm definitely getting a beard.... but I've been tweezing those little sprouts on my chin and have been comforted by the knowledge that this situation is indeed, temporary!!! But, I'm not excited about that excessive hair loss that people talk about after delivery.... when you feel like you're going bald! :( lol.

Week 19

I haven't felt the intense leg cramps that people describe around this time... just some minor you're-about-to-get-a-leg-cramp-if-you-keep-stretching-like-that sensations. I have, however, wondered about the tingling & numbness in my fingers I've been experiencing every now & then. Good to hear that it's TOTALLY normal and that it's most likely a result of my body's swelling tissues pressing on nerves. whattoexpect.com describes the baby as looking like a mango dipped in cheese this week (gross!)... he's about a half-pound and around 6 inches long (roughly the size of a large melon).
The greasy white stuff called vernix caseosa (vernix is Latin for varnish; caseosa is cheese.... very original, people....) covers the baby's skin, protecting it from the surrounding amniotic fluid so he doesn't get totally pruny & wrinkled from his 9 month bath! It's made up of lanugo (the downy hair), oil from the baby's glands and dead skin cells. Thankfully, it sheds this as delivery approaches.....

The baby is able to choreograph Matrix-like moves at 19 weeks and his arms and legs are finally in proportion. Neurons are now connected between the brain and muscles and cartilage throughout the body is turning to bone. All these upgrades combine to give him more control over limb movements, although I haven’t felt anything yet (I don’t think). Although, from what I’ve read, it may be harder for me to feel him so soon because I’m very muscular… (yeah, I have a protective layer… but under that is some seriously dense & hard muscle!). We’ll see; hopefully I will start to feel him soon. Maybe once things calm down a little.

4th Prenatal Appointment

Today was our fourth pre-natal appointment! The doctor said we were very boring... because it was like a 3 minute appointment... lol. Which means... everything was fine and we had no questions because I research any question I have and find out the answer before I go... unless I still think it's worth discussing with the doctor. So here's the update on Baby Straub:

The heartbeat was 136 and the doctor said that this early on, that sounds like a boy's heartbeat... yet another confirmation!

All of my tests were good... I gained 3 pounds in the past 4 weeks (and this was the first time I hadn't lost weight!!). My blood pressure was 112 over 80 (even though this has been one of the most stressful weeks of my life!)... my pee test was good and everything went well. I have to schedule an ultrasound for 20 weeks.... so, someone remind me!

On a goofier note... I locked my keys in my car again...... this time at a REEEEAAALLLLY inconvenient time! After 14 hours in the ER and hospital as we admitted my mom..... and this time it wasn't the car with the spare under the wheel well.... so we had to call public safety at the university to come bail us out by breaking into our car. ugh...... and I was SO excited that I remembered where I put the parking ticket after 14 hours... AND where the car was PARKED... AND how to even get to that parking garage from where my mom ended up (which was different than where she went in!).... I was so pleased with my high-functioning pregnant self.... until I began searching for my keys. ugh.

aye aye aye. I'm a mess.