Baby Special: 17 Weeks

Weeks: 17 (and 4 days.  I'm going to start posting these recaps on Thursday to correspond with the new week)!    Weeks 4-10 crawled sooo slowwwllly.  I was bursting with excitement over the baby news, but was so careful to keep a lid on it.  The past month or two have really flown by though, and I’m so thrilled to be rapidly approaching the half way point.

Official Due Date: April 3, 2015 

Baby's Size:  Baby Special is 5 inches long (from head to bottom) and weighs five ounces now – about as much as a turnip!  

Trimester: Second  (Which I’ve heard affectionately referred to as “The Honeymoon Period”.  I can definitely relate, as the past five weeks have been some of the best in my entire life.  I feel wonderful physically – not (very) sick, not uncomfortable, just strong and healthy!  Emotionally, I feel… it’s kind of indescribable.  I feel so lucky that my body is able to do this – to be pregnant.  I am so unbelievably grateful, and acutely aware of the women out there who wish for this).

Gender Guesses: I thought it was a boy for the first 12-14 weeks of the pregnancy – I was so sick!  Sweet averse!  - but lately I’m leaning toward girl.  We COULD find out in a few weeks, but we’re still holding strong to wait until the baby is born for that magical moment.  (I’m sure it’s magical no matter when you find out!) 

Names:  We’re pretty set on our boys name, but if it’s a girl we’re really undecided.  I gravitate toward fairly traditional names, and I’m really in to family names or names with meaning.  In other words, we have nothin'.  

Cravings: I have yet to experience a real craving (I think?!)  Throughout my pregnancy I’ve definitely gravitated toward salty (as opposed to sweet) and have required carbs to start my day – English Muffins, toast, bagels… I don’t discriminate. :)  I have not experienced any “OMG I MUST HAVE THIS RIGHT NOW” though (yet?) and that’s alright with me.  In fact, I'd prefer to avoid them :)

How I'm Feeling: I don’t want to jinx it, but I’m feeling awesome!  I was very sick in the beginning – throwing up almost every day!  - but I turned a corner around week 12, and I've felt pretty great since then.  I've certainly had a few moments of not feeling super great (and a few nausea episodes) but those have been few and far between for the past month.  We had an appointment a week ago for a check-up, and Scott got to hear the heartbeat for the first time… that was very special for me.  Baby’s heartbeat is powerful in more ways than one.

Movement: None yet, although at my OB appointment on Monday night the doctor said that in a few weeks, the feeling would be undeniable, and that I’d probably think to myself “oh, yes!  I've been feeling this for weeks and didn't know what it was!”  I’m incredibly excited for feeling the baby.  It’s pretty awe-inspiring to have a baby growing inside of you – and I’m looking forward to having my outside match my inside.  (I’m really not showing yet much at all – Scott and my mom can both see a Baby Bump, but no one else can really notice it yet.  I suspect that will change soon, but for now it’s a little strange!)

My thoughts:  I cannot wait to be a mom… and find out if we have a son or daughter!   Scott is going to be the most wonderful father and I cannot wait to see him with our child. We just moved a few months ago, and our lives (and my parents lives!) have been consumed with working on our house.  Finding out that I was pregnant was the icing on the cake, and added a new burst of energy to our efforts.  From the first walk-through of our house, we knew which room would (hopefully!) be a nursery, and we've taken to calling it “the Baby Room”.  It’s currently acting as our guest room, but we've started making plans for transitioning it to our nursery.  We likely won’t start that until after the new year, but it’s been fun to dream and plan.  Scott and I have a pretty clear vision about what we’d like to do with the space, and it’s been fun to slowly do research and start selecting items.  (My parents have been hugely helpful in this as well – they found several key pieces for the room so far!)