Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Week by Week: Week 16




Our Baby:
  • Is almost 5 inches long by now, and weighs just over 2.5 ounces.
  • Has ears and eyes in the correct positions, making him/her look even more like a "normal" human being. 
  • Pumps about 25 quarts of blood through his/her heart every day. 
  • Is starting to grow eyebrows, eyelashes, and hair. 
  • Is forming taste buds!
  • Is almost ready to start listening to my voice due to the formation of his/her ear bones. 
I (traditionally): 
  • Have a half-pound uterus filled with half a pound of amniotic fluid. 
  • Have that "pregnancy glow," caused by increased blood circulation and over-active oil production .
  • Start gearing myself up to feel the baby move for the first time. 
  • Have started sleeping on my side, and apparently the left side is best. 
  • Can feel my uterus when I do sleep on my back, and it's rock-hard. 
  • Keep up that pregnancy brain. 
I (actually):
  • Am finally up from my starting weight! According to my midwife I dropped a few pounds during the morning sickness phase, but now I should continue to gain at a slow and steady pace. 
  • Have a bit of "pregnancy glow" I suppose. It's accompanied by tiny pimples on my cheekbones, which I've never had before. I had major issues with acne when younger, but the pimples were always huge or cystic and located in the hollows of my cheeks down to my jawline. These little guys a new. They're even almost cute. Almost. 
  • Want to feel our baby move so much! But nothing is happening yet. Since it's my first baby and I started out with some padding on my middle, I'm resigning myself to the fact that it'll probably be another month before I feel anything. 
  • Have started sleeping on my side. It's not too uncomfortable on my back, but it is weird because...
  • It really does feel like I have a rock for a uterus when I lie on my back. That's when it sticks up the most. It's also when I want to poke it the most. 
  • Have had some pregnancy brain moments. I thought I lost my keys this morning, and I looked everywhere. I glanced in my purse multiple times and somehow missed the wad of keys sitting in the open pocket right at the top. Sigh. 

We had our next midwife appointment today, and it was great. Levi was able to come with me, and I was so excited for him to finally be able to hear the heartbeat of our baby. It only took a second or two for the midwife to feel around and there was that soothing pulse. Yippee! We decided to forego the triple screen test that is available at this time, but I learned that I will be testing in a few months to see if I have gestational diabetes. After the horror stories I've heard about the nastiness of that orange drink, I can safely say I'm not looking forward to it. 

The house projects are continuing smoothly. Levi continues to work at stripping the paint off the trim from the nursery and I have almost finished all the painting in the hallway upstairs. After that I'm thinking that I'll paint the upstairs bathroom to make it a soothing and put-together space for baby care. 

I realized today that while I was excited to reach the second trimester for the first time, I never felt a sense of relief or safety. Even though our chances of a pregnancy loss are drastically reduced now, I just wasn't worried or anxious about it at any time. It wasn't as if I knew that this pregnancy would make it this far. I suppose it was more the fact that I was confident that I had done everything possible to take care of myself and everything else was out of my hands. I asked Levi about it, and he has felt the same way. We're taking it a day at a time, we're holding up our end, and we're praying. That's about all we can do.

I haven't had any cravings or food desires since my sno cone incident. Food is delicious again, and I'm glad to eat my fill, but I'm not desperate to eat anything specific right now. Now Levi, however, can't stop thinking about onion rings. Onion rings. He has no idea why he wants them so badly, but he wishes he could have them every night. Aw, sympathy cravings. 

Freak-Out Moments:

Nothing this week. It's been a pretty chill week, and I'm still riding the emotional high from hearing that tiny heartbeat this morning!

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Good times, y'all! Another update next week!


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