Sonograms and Baby Update

On Thursday, we had (probably) our last ultrasound. This is somewhat disappointing, since I always like "checking in" on the baby. The ultrasound technician seemed astonished that we didn't want find out the baby's gender.
Anyway, this was the Anatomy Screening, which meant that they had to find anything and everything, and measure it. This was to check that the baby was growing well for my due date (it is) and that all of the body parts are growing proportionally (they are.) This was really interesting- we got to see both hemispheres of the brain, all 4 chambers of the heart, the kidneys, the stomach, important blood vessels (at which point they turned on the color, and we saw that the blood was flowing through the vessels), the spine, ribs, face, hands/arms, feet/legs, etc. No wonder it took 45 minutes just for all of the measurements! The baby was very rambunctious - not flipping over when needed and moving its feet around a lot. I blame that trait on Steve. :) And it hiccupped again during this ultrasound - hopefully our baby doesn't chronically hiccup!
Because the ultrasound wand was pressing against my belly for so long, and the technician kept jiggling my belly to get the angle she wanted, I think the kid started getting rowdy and moving around more. I finally felt the baby move! I swear that I saw the kid kick during the ultrasound, and I felt it. And I felt a faint internal flicking sensation near my belly button. Now I know what I'm feeling, I am feeling its movements more.
The baby results: the baby is now weighs 10 ounces and has a heartbeat of 151 bpm. Every part looks fine and should be ready to emerge mid-July.
In the sonograms, you see the baby with a big yawn (which is weird to me, since it isn't breathing air - everything is fluid), a profile shot, a foot shot, and a heart picture.
Diane update: I've gained about 3.5 pounds so far, we'll see how long it takes for the big weight gains to start.

End of Week 18 Belly Picture

Well, I'm definitely starting to pop out more. I might even start wearing my maternity pants soon.
When I get some more time, I'll post the new sonograms and baby details.

Being sick sucks!

For those of you lucky enough to not be around me last week, I was the unfortunate recipient of the head cold that was rampant at my work. Being sick with a head cold is bad enough, but not being able to take a decongestant makes things worse. And I really wanted some Nyquil, but that was out too. Oh well, I'm better now. Hopefully, I won't get sick any more.

Hello Belly Band and Hello Everyone Else!

Well, it's official - I had to break out the belly band to help hold up my khakis today. My belly is somewhat sore due to stretching ligaments, and it's a lot more comfortable if I can leave my pants unbuttoned. :)

It was also nice to see so many people this past weekend. We saw a bunch of people in State College for the 12th annual Jimmy Buffett party. Although I forgot to get a picture of my belly wearing a limehead hat. :( Thanks again to Amy for the latest round of loaned pregnancy stuff!
Then off to DuBois to drop off Vince and eat lunch with Dianna, Liam, Vince, and Dianna's parents. Then we continued on to visit with my parents on Sunday and Monday. We finished up with a trip to Denny's Beer Barrel Pub to eat burgers, although no big competition size burgers. 600 miles later, we returned home.

What fuse?

Okay, so admittedly, I had a short fuse to begin with. Now it's all about disappeared. I have been on many a tirade lately. I try to curb all of the venom by the time I get home from work, but my coworkers really don't appreciate it. I guess that's why I married Steve and not them. ;)

Belly Band and Heartburn - not related

I've been getting questions about what a belly band is (I mentioned it in a previous posting). It is a stretchy tube of fabric that mimics the fabric part of maternity pants. It really helps for too big for regular pants, not quite ready for maternity pants phase. Check out the website:
http://ingridandisabel.com/bellaband.html.

I started getting heartburn more regularly, which can be really annoying. I've been really trying to stay seated after dinner (instead of laying on the couch), drinking ginger mint tea, and eating ginger snaps. This seems to help a lot of digestion and to minimize the heartburn. Otherwise, I got a big bottle of Tums when the ginger doesn't work.