How far along: 18 weeks
Fruit-size comparison: A sweet potato!!! How is Teeny Peep that big already?!
Developmental milestones: Teeny Peep is busy this week flexing his/her arms and legs giving this mama lots of little taps to let me know that he/she is growing :-) The ears have arrived at their final destination & myelination has begun. If we’re having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed, and if we’re having a boy, his genitals are now noticeable! Teeny Peep is “passing the hours yawning, hiccupping, rolling, twisting, kicking, punching, sucking, and swallowing”. Teeny Peep is also listening to everything outside of the womb, so we are doing a lot of reading and talking to him or her :-)
Maternity clothes: I tried wearing my regular jeans last week twice, and both times I had to implement the hair-tie trick to keep them from falling down. I have a feeling I need to start wearing my belly band & maternity pants since the weather might (fingers crossed) start cooling off soon.
Weight gain: I am starting to gain some weight thank goodness, but I'm still -2 lbs. I think this is an improvement and I'll take it!
Stretch Marks: I've got plenty of kisses from heaven from carrying Dutch. I applied lotions and such daily with that pregnancy, but to be honest I don't think I'm even going to try to prevent future stretch marks. I absolutely love these badges of honor and I'm so proud to wear them.
Sleep: I've still got some insomnia but it seems to be every other night now. It's as if I am so tired one night from not sleeping the previous night, that I fall asleep sitting up and sleep like a rock
Best moment of the week: I've cracked open my birthing books to refresh and doing my labor stretches and exercises and I'm getting ready. This makes me excited!
Movement: These taps are getting a little firmer and more regular. I feel Teeny Peep on a daily basis now and I absolutely love it. This might actually be my "Best moment of the week" :-)
Cravings: Not that I can think of.
Gender: I think girl this week…Have you voted yet for what you think yet? Click here to vote!
Belly button: It's an innie, but it is already starting to get flat.
Wedding ring: On
Anything making you queasy/sick: When I initially was writing this post I had made it the entire week without getting sick! I was so excited! But then I stopped mid-way through this post and ran to Target. While there I got sick…womp womp! But at least it was only sick once this week and not everyday; still a major improvement and hopefully Teeny Peep and I are turning a corner.
What I’m looking forward to: Our doctors appointment this upcoming week.
Labor signs: No, thank goodness.
Symptoms: I can tell that my chest is starting to change again, as I've finally gotten chest pain. Also I get heartburn simply by picking up toys off the floor. I am still peeing a lot and have a growing belly, but those will remain staples for the next several months.
Nursery: There isn't going to be a new nursery. We plan on having Dutch and Teeny Peep share a room. It's not that we don't have the space; we do have another bedroom, but we would like our kiddos to share a room when they are younger. We're thinking this will be a great opportunity to continue building character with our children. And to be honest, Dutch didn't move into his nursery until he was eight months old, and even then only for a few hours a day until he was 11 months old, so the new baby will probably stay in our room about the same amount of time and then we will do a transition of some sort. Of course we don't know what it is like to have two children and exactly what it will be like, but this is how we think we are going to try to start.
Emotions: This was a tough week, and not because I'm pregnant. A lot was going on around here and I was easily frustrated. My responses to everything going on were "very pregnant" and I cried a lot. For example, I was watching a movie with my husband and a dog was murdered and I had a full-on, can't catch my breath, mascara dripping on the floor, ugly-cry. Hopefully I will be more in check next week.
