OMG... half-way already?!?

Happy New Year! I know I've neglected my poor blog for the last couple of weeks, but hopefully today's post will make up for it. :)

I can't believe I'm at 20 weeks already. While it hasn't exactly flown by, it's still unreal to me that there's only 20 weeks left to go. I am starting to feel very unprepared!

The holidays were fun, but not so relaxing. I spent much of the week between Christmas and New Year's traveling to visit friends and family, including spending 8 hours driving through the blizzard in Pennsylvania and New Jersey (I didn't say all of the travel was smart). Oh, and DH and I went emergency car shopping and bought a new family vehicle. Yeah, DH's car broke down and we found out the engine is shot. So now Operation Gratitude has converted our old car into some care packages for our troops, and we, in turn, have found ourselves a new set of wheels. Probably better that this happened now, rather than, oh, say 5 months from now, but it certainly threw a curveball into our vacation plans.

On to some baby news...

DH and I went for my Level II ultrasound on Tuesday. The baby was squirming all around, but the tech was able to (eventually) get all the measurements she needed (hardest of all was the right hand, which the baby seemed to want to hide from us. Personally I was most fascinated to see the heart. The tech got a really good shot of it beating, and I could clearly see all four chambers working away. We didn't find out the sex, and apparently the tech didn't even check (I imagine she saw anyway, she did measure both thigh bones after all, but was really good at keeping quiet about it). So we remain solidly Team Green!

At one point the tech asked me how my due date had been calculated, and I told her it was based off of my first ultrasound. Then she asked DH and me how big we were at birth. Why? Because our baby is measuring a week ahead of schedule, at a whopping 14 1/2 ounces (this ultrasound was done at 19w3d)! I wasn't a big baby -- only 6lbs, 9 oz -- but DH was a little over 8 lbs -- still not huge. I guess it's not surprising that our baby is measuring big -- DH and I are both 6'0" tall, after all. Oh boy... or girl!

Our doctor came in and said that everything looked great. He asked us if we intended to do an amnio, and we told him that we only wanted to do one if the ultrasound showed anything of concern. The doctor said, then no, I don't see any reason you need one. Woot!

The only downside to the visit is that the tech found that I have two more fibroids, making a total now of four. Doc said that they likely won't present any problem, but they want to watch on in particular, which is lower down on my uterus, and could possibly grow to block the birth canal (mandating a Caesarian). Not the end of the world, and I'll do what I need to get my baby out safely, but I'm hoping it won't come to that.

Next up: OB appointment on Monday, and then I'll see the perinatologist again in 4 weeks.

So now for the fun part... pics!

It's still hard to believe this little person is squirming around inside of me. I've felt a few "pops" and bubbles, especially the afternoon following the ultrasound, but it's still so surreal.

It was difficult for the tech to get a good shot, but the doc managed to catch this one... not too shabby! I feel like I need to eat more though, put some more meat on her/his bones... but apparently baby will "flesh out" over time.

Pretty cool stuff!

And of course, Gertrude the Bump wanted some air-time too... so here she is at 20 weeks, looking like I swallowed a soccer ball...

Ugh... balance issues!

Last night I tripped on my way up the stairs to our apartment. I didn't fall, but I doubled over front-wise pretty hard before catching myself. My belly hurt at impact, felt weird to compress it so much, but afterward seemed okay. Gertrude definitely didn't like being squished!

Even so, I am the paranoid type, so I called my OB's office to try to talk to the doctor on call. Turns out my own doctor (Dr. K.; I rotate through the three in the practice - Dr. K. is my primary OB, but it was Dr. P. who scolded me about the fast food last week) was the one on call, which was nice. She said not to worry, only to contact her again if I started cramping and/or bleeding. I haven't experienced either so it probably really is fine.

I felt silly calling, but it's so hard, since I can't feel the baby yet, to know everything's really okay... and my next appointment isn't until after New Year's... come on baby, just kick me already!

Oh yeah, and I'm already clutzy by nature (DH jokes about my "balance issues" all the time), so today I went online and bought a pairs of flat-heeled boots, because the ones I tripped in have heels. They're only 1 3/4" but that's high for me; at 6'0" tall I normally wear flats but they were the only boots I could find last winter in 13N -- oh how I dread my feet getting any bigger than they already are, it's hard enough to find shoes that fit as it is! And while I had no trouble getting used to the heels last year, this time around it's a whole new ball game. If I'm already unsteady on my feet at 17 weeks... ugh, I just don't want to trip or fall again!

Gertrude the Bump: Part II

So here's Gertrude at 16 weeks, as compared to 13 weeks. Not super different size-wise, but I'd say the bump is more well-defined now. No more bloat, it's all baby now (well and my stomach and other miscellaneous schmushed-up organs).

My bump has a name

Yes, that's right. My sister texted me a few weeks ago and asked if I had a bump yet, but she typed "yet" as "yetttt" (in Textese) and it got auto-corrected on her iPhone as Gertrude (???), so the text read "Do you have a bump Gertrude"... so from then on that's what we started to call it.

So, now it is my pleasure to introduce to you Gertrude the Bump, making her internet debut at 13 weeks!

PS. I can pretty much hide my bump under baggy sweaters, and can still button my coat, so it will be a while before I can really use it as a Pregnancy Rewards card.