22-weeks.

This week, I am 22-weeks (5.5 months) pregnant. I am still loving it. The physical changes are definitely in progress. I feel like my belly is huge. He's definitely starting to show. He's still flip-flopping a lot. Dave tries to feel him as much as he can when we're watching TV or laying in bed, but sometimes he just stops moving. If there was one thing I could wish for, it would be for Dave to feel what I feel during the day. Those private moments in a meeting or at my desk when the acrobats start. Just the funny feelings that are so enjoyable. I wish he could feel that. I know it's an amazing gift and so special, and I cherish every minute of it.

This has also been a bit of an emotional week for me. Some what of a roller coaster. I think I have shared what a blessing and a curse my memory is when it comes to dates. Angela was born at 22-weeks and 6-days. That point of this pregnancy falls on Sunday, June 1st. That explains why Monday, June 2nd has been my next mental milestone for a while. That date puts me at 23-weeks, which is the longest I will have ever have been pregnant. In the mean time, I think of each day from when Angela was diagnosed with OI (July 10, 21w6d) to when she was born (July 17, 22-w6d). Each day, I have thought about where we were, what we were doing. Which hospital we were at. What doctors we were talking to. That I called Gretchen from the Boston Market parking lot to tell her what was going on, but that I still had an appetite to eat mashed potatoes and mac 'n' cheese. How much I hated one of the doctors. I still hate him,. and his stupid assistant. How my sister showed up to be with us at UH for an ultrasound, and even though we told our family not to come, I was so glad she was there. She brought me a giant Diet Coke. And then I couldn't believe she bought three of the same webkins for her kids (frogs!) at the hospital gift shop. How Lori pretended to be me when she called to make an appointment with the pediatric orthopedic specialist to have our appointment pushed up. And how she "forgot" my social security number, but played it off by being upset. She had the appointment moved up 5-days. She just kept saying that I was my only advocate. And now I believe that so much. But she and David were my voice that week. How we went to the Kenny Chesney concert that weekend to get out of the house. Kenny was in town last weekend. And even though I still love his music, I don't really listen to him anymore.

There are a million more memories. Ones that catch me off guard, or suck the wind out of me. Ones that remind me how much I love my husband. But the end result is always the same. We still lost our baby girl.

So during this 22nd week, as we are counting our blessings, and loving our little boy, we are missing his sister. We are missing our first baby. I keep comparing so many things. I am so grateful that 23-weeks is just around the corner, and that all new pregnancy feelings and emotions will be new for both of us.

I didn't mean for this to be a sad post. We are so happy.

21-Weeks....

Last week was a great milestone, hitting the half-way mark. This week we're at 21-weeks! Wow, time is flying. I love being pregnant, I really do. Now that I have this happy little monkey moving around all the time, it's even more special. Sometimes I just look down and smile thinking "what are you doing?". It really does crack me up.

This week I'm convinced that all of the hair on his head is growing. I'm not sure how many more Tums I can take before gagging. Yikes. But it cracks me up at the same time. It feels like I've eaten a Chipotle burrito and poured the super hot salsa all over it! How lucky am I if this is the worst discomfort I've felt so far? I'll take it with a smile.

So, what's going on at 21-weeks.
Your baby now weighs about three-quarters of a pound and is approximately 10 1/2 inches long — the length of a carrot. His eyebrows and eyelids are fully developed. And you can certainly feel him move. He's oblivious to your schedule, though, so don't be surprised if he starts working out just when you're settling down for the night.

This picture makes him look GINORMOUS! At our appointment on May 1st, they estimated that he weighed 10oz. This week, the average is 12oz. I think my monkey is a little bit bigger then 12oz. With as much as I've gained, you'd think I had a 10-pounder in there!

Busy Busy..

So in my other blog, I was talking about how we've been busy lately. All good stuff. Cleaning the house, getting ready for baby, etc.

Now that we've hit some pretty big milestones in our pregnancy, I've been looking at what to register for. I've been reading a GREAT book called Baby Bargains. My favorite part of each chapter is the section on "waste of money". I love this! I feel like the baby market has so much stuff that you don't need! There is just SO MUCH stuff out there to consider, and I want to know what's fluff. The reason I love this book is because it's based on a lot of reviews. They rate products and brands and include parent feedback. They make some great suggestions too.

So, I'm reading the book, and making our tentative lists. It's fun, but stressful. It's like I'm trying to do 8-billion things at once. So, some of my best Baby Bargain reading is done while Dave drives us over to the west side :) Pathetic, I know.

I'm also trying to finish the baby blanket I started in February. This is coming a long very nicely, but is taking FOREVER courtesy of the thin yarn that I picked. Hopefully, that will be done soon. I made a lot of progress on my long flights to California. I also work on it when we watch TV. That seems to help my multitasking skills.

I'm still feeling great, which we are thrilled about. The baby is moving constantly, and Dave has felt him a few times over the last week. The only thing that has come up over the last few weeks is either acid reflux or heartburn. Not sure which is which, but it seems to happen daily. Fortunately, Tums are already a part of my daily diet for the calcium benefit, so now they're pulling double duty. No complaints though. It's just weird.

I know it's an old wives tale that heartburn is a sign of the baby having a full head of hair. I had some heartburn with Angela too, and she had a lot of hair for being such a peanut. So, maybe this will be true for Danny too. Hair or no hair, we'll take him :)

Wow. It's been a while since my last post. Well, I was in California all of last week (Mon-Fri). Unfortunately, the weather was not gorgeous. It was grey and gloomy, and kind of chilly. I had a conference in Newport Beach. Very pretty place. I'll post some pictures when I get around to unloading them.

Dave came out there with me, and we had a nice time together. I think he was disappointed about the weather too, but we made the most of it.

Yesterday was Mother's Day. I'm not going to pretend that it was a good day, but I won't elaborate on it either. The absolute BEST thing about yesterday was loafing on the couch with Dave. For the last few weeks, I have been grabbing David's hand and putting it on my stomach..convinced that he would feel Monkey doing somersaults. Yesterday, the baby was doing a full cardio routine of jumping jacks, cartwheels, and flips. And much to my delight, Dave felt the baby. It was so fun to see his face. I could feel the baby, and then Dave felt him and looked at me startled. And we just started laughing. Danny kicked a few more times and then went back to sleep.

That was the best. A blessing in disguise. I do think it was Angela cheering me up. I think she advised her brother to give me a swift kick, hard enough for Dave to feel, and knock me to my senses...and experience the joy of David's reaction.

One more thing...today is the half-way point! I am 20-weeks...or 5-months :) 20-more weeks...and we will be delighted to meet our boy.

Perfectly Normal Little Boy!

Well, we already knew the little boy part...and we had a lot of tests done that were in his favor for being healthy...but this ultrasound was the big milestone.

Dr. Muise said he measured right on and the looks like a perfectly healthy little boy.

This was the best birthday gift for David we could have ever asked for.

Danny put on a show by strutting his stuff. The first image the ultrasound tech had when she put the wand on my belly was of his junk. She laughed and said that he certainly wasn't shy :) His heart looked great. His femurs measured right on. His head measured great. He flip flopped all over the place.

His pictures didn't turn out that well though. I was hoping to get a good profile of him to put in the frame that Gretchen gave me. I wanted his to be like Angela's profile that I have in the frame Dawn gave me. I even explained this to the tech. She tried, but he was too squirmy and kept putting his back to us or his face. The pictures that were printed came out really dark too, and not really clear. I think they needed to change the toner. I'm hoping to get another ultrasound by my sisters friend that is in ultrasound training (don't worry, it's overseen by a special ultrasound doctor). Maybe that will have a better picture? I'll take a bad picture for a healthy baby any day!

I'm off to watch Grey's Anatomy and will give more updates later.

It was a splendid day and we could not be happier!

Orange.

This baby is going to be orange. I eat more orange processed crap then a normal human should consume. This includes:

• Cheez-Its


• Cheeto's


• Cheese Curls


• Macaroni & Cheese (Stouffer's is the best!)


• Nacho Cheese sauce (on tostidos)


• Shredded cheddar on a baked potato

I'm sure you noticed that carrots were not on that list? It's disgusting...but so good.

I'm still working on the veggie consumption. Last night I made a thing of steamed veggies. What a scam the whole "medley" was. It was almost ALL cauliflower. DISGUSTING. I had to dip them in my mac and cheese just to gag them down. Dave was all over me to make sure I ate them, and was laughing at my last bite when I literally gagged (I was out of mac and cheese). It was awful.

We heard on the news last week (awesome) that if I eat veggies while pregnant, the baby will get a taste of them in the amniotic fluid and be more adept to eating them later on. GROSS. I've got to admit, that little bit of guilt helped me choke them down.

Today marks 18-weeks. What's going on in my belly this week...other then somersaults.

How your baby's growing: Head to bottom, your baby is approximately 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and he weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll likely start noticing more and more. His blood vessels are visible through his thin skin and his ears are now in position and stand out from his head. Myelin (a protective covering) is beginning to form around his nerves, a process that will continue for a year after he's born. If you're having a girl, her uterus and Fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If your baby is a boy, his genitals are noticeable, though he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.

New Clothes!

I went shopping tonight with my mom, and she treated me to a bunch of new stuff. I'm looking for pictures on-line...

I found a dress for a wedding I'm going to in July. See picture below :)

I can't find any pictures of the cute clothes that we bought at JC Penney. I found some great tops and a pair of capri's. I'll have to take some pictures of them and then post them. I think they'll come in super handy for my trip to California in a few weeks.

Then we went to Champps and I ate a huge cheeseburger and fries! YUM.

Not really helping to reduce waistline expansion...but it tasted good.