Baby Kicks!

Okay, so feeling the baby kick is unbelievable. I first felt the baby at 15 weeks when I was laying in bed and  it did a 180 flip in my tummy. It was the weirdest feeling! Definitely felt like someone turned my stomach inside out. Around 16 weeks I started feeling light flutters that I knew were tiny kicks but were hard to even notice because I didn't pay that much attention.
The first time I REALLY noticed was when I was seeing Twilight: New Moon! I have a few theories on this: 
1) I felt the baby kicking stronger because I was sitting still and had a little caffeine
2) The baby loves vampire movies and was really excited
3) The baby hates vampire movies and was desperate to get out of there


At 17 weeks the kicks were really noticeable for me and I was feeling them all the time! It was so amazing to be able to track my baby's movements based on where I was feeling kicks, and I can tell you, that kid is MOVING.
Which brings us to week 18. At 18 weeks 1 day I was out to dinner with my family when I felt some pretty strong kicks under my ribs. It was so strong I put my hand on my stomach and was surprised to notice that I felt it from the OUTSIDE! I thought I was going crazy because the doctor told me you don't usually feel kicks from the outside until 20-24 weeks. I immediately grabbed my sister-in-law-to-be's hand and put it on my stomach and she immediately felt it too. Whew! Not crazy. I grabbed Garland's hand at the same time and that sweet daddy's face lit up like the Fourth! He was so surprised/shocked/giddy that he just sat there and smiled, it was top 5 cutest things I've ever seen :)


Since then I have noticed 2 things: 1) I feel the kicks the strongest when they are up by my ribs, and 2) my abs are SORE! I feel like I did P90X and I need to stretch my belly all the time. So weird! I have also reached the conclusion that while it has been so cool to feel the baby kick so strong so early that this could come back to bite me in my late pregnancy. I have a feeling I'll have some sore ribs from some major kicks!

Unforgotten Blessing

I have a super cool job, I'm just going to say it from the get go. One of my favorite parts is that we offer limited ultrasounds to clients who qualify to check for gestation (how far along) and a heart beat. During these ultrasounds, I get to sit in the room and shadow, and even though my presence is a legal requirement to protect the patient's rights, I get excited anyway because I get to watch the excitement and see the surprise over such a little life! Most of the time these ultrasounds are a moment of realization that there really is a baby growing and it can already do so much.
However, every once in a while the ultrasound does not go as planned. The couple I shadowed today was so excited to see the baby and even though she thought she was 10 weeks, the baby was only measuring at 7 weeks. Everyone thought she may have just miscalculated when she got pregnant, but as the ultrasound went on we realized we couldn't find a heartbeat. It was SOOOOO overwhelming to watch this heartbroken couple mourn the loss of their child. I found myself pulling my cardigan over my belly to make my own pregnancy bump seem less noticeable. Somehow it felt like bragging just to have such prominent proof of the life growing inside me that would no longer grow inside of her. 
Even though I know that statistically 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage, it was still surreal to see a couple's first, raw emotional response to the news. I found myself praying and praising God that my baby has lived. Today gave me a renewed thankfulness and appreciation for the miracle God has given me. We prayed so long for this baby and after we passed the initial high risk miscarriage stage it has been easy to see that it was only by his hand that we are going to be blessed with a baby in May.


So today, I lift up his glorious name and humble myself in thankfulness at the foot of his throne for even considering me worthy of such joy.

"My prayer was for this child; and the Lord has given him to me in answer to my request."          
1 Samuel 1:27

Boy or Girl....

We did another ultrasound! I know, I'm beginning to sound like an ultrasound junkie, but not knowing the gender was killing me! This time, we did it at 16 weeks, and although both times we've tried to find out it has been developed enough to see, our little guy/gal has been shy!


The exciting news is that we got a better peek today! We actually got a hint about our baby's gender :)
Drum roll please.........
We're having a                          !!! Sorry to get your hopes up but we're not revealing it yet! I know, I know, this was so mean! But I haven't blogged in a while and since this is the most exciting thing happening in our neck of the woods, I knew I needed to document it. But until we have it confirmed and we're not just "pretty sure," we're keeping it to ourselves :)


In other news, I felt the baby move for the first time at 15 weeks and 4 days! It was weird and incredible all at the same time. I was laying in bed flat on my stomach, trying to fall asleep. All the sudden out of nowhere, it felt like one side of my stomach turned completely inside out. Kind of a combination of the feeling you get when you go over the hill of a roller coaster and like someone was moving a rolling pin under my skin. It was totally crazy! I know the baby had to of been doing a total 180 or something because it definitely wasn't "butterfly kicks" like everyone describes having around this time. Guess it's going to be a sleep tosser just like it's momma!


That's all for now, the "official" gender announcement will happen in mid-December :)