Week 19 -- It's a ...

GIRL!!!! Emile and I were very excited to find out that we're having a little girl!!! I thought for sure it was a boy that I was in shock. We're going to have a daughter!!!

We had our "big" ultrasound on Thursday, December 20th. We decided to keep it a secret so we could surprise our families. The morning of the 20th, we went in for our anatomy ultrasound and found out we're having a girl. The technician, and later our doctor's nurse confirmed, that our little girl looks "normal" -- arms and legs the right length, brain looks good, face is in the right proportions, etc. The technician wasn't able to see the kidneys, chambers of the heart or spine in the position she was in so I have to go back on January 10th for another ultrasound. Our little girl weighs 7 oz. right now and is in the 50th percentile for her weight based on the day of our ultrasound (I was 17 weeks 5 days pregnant) -- so right on target.

That night, we flew to Minneapolis for Christmas at Emile's parent's house. We told them we were having a girl by wrapping up a little dress with the ultrasound photo. We had them unwrap it -- Riet held up the dress for about a split second before she exclaimed "are you having a girl??!!!!" and proceeded to jump up with excitement.

We had to then keep it a secret for another week until we saw my family in person this past Thursday on December 27th. We told my family the same way -- wrapped up a dress with the ultrasound photo and had my parents open it together. My mom responded pretty much identically to Emile's mom -- held up the dress for a split second before exclaiming "are you having a girl?!!!" and then proceeded to get super excited and overjoyed. Apparently, my dad kept whispering to my mom while they were in bed that night "we're having a granddaughter!". It was great being able to tell our families in person that we're having a girl given that we've had to tell them most things about our pregnancy via telephone or webcam.

Our families gave us a lot of wonderful baby items for Christmas -- little dresses, pink and purple blankets, baby bedding, a Baby Bjorn, play mat, little items for the diaper bag (such as wrist toys, bib, etc.), light "mood" bear, taggie blankets, sign language book, touch and feel book, Baby Einstein lullaby CD, and newborn gift set. Emile's aunt and uncle in Holland (Anneke and Norbert) sent us some Dutch baby items that are adorable -- a little bear, heart that plays music and a schouder spuugdoek (shoulder bib/burp cloth). They all have photos of windmills and a Dutch boy and girl kissing in the Delft's bleuwe color. All the gifts we got were wonderful and greatly appreciated!!

Today, I'm 19 weeks pregnant!! I definitely feel like I'm getting much bigger faster now!

Week 18 -- Month 5

YAY!! I've finished 4 months, on to month 5. Five months to go. This past week was great -- I'm pretty sure I felt the baby move on Tuesday (December 18, 17w3d). It felt like something was rolling right under my belly button and happened about 2-3 times. Always ended with a tingle through my belly button. Since then I've felt other "rolls" and maybe a kick or two occasionally. I probably won't feel the baby move consistently until a few weeks from now though. But it was really neat and exciting!

According to the average weight gain charts, I'm doing pretty well for 18 weeks which I'm happy about although I'm starting to feel heavier in my stomach. I'm also getting more hungry again and definitely can't go more than a few hours without eating. I feel like I'm starting to grow again in my belly compared to last week where it didn't feel much different. The baby should be about 5-5.5 inches long and weigh around 6.5 ounces. You should be able to see the chambers of our baby's heart in an ultrasound now. His/her vocal cords should be fully formed also. Over the next week, our baby will start forming hair on his/her head and forming teeth buds.

Week 17

The last week of Month 4! Our baby is now roughly the size of my hand outstretched. He or she has a much more normal "human" appearance now. Our baby is now able to hold his/her head more erect and his/her body and limbs are longer in proportion to his/her head. Pads are forming on the tiny fingertips and toes. Soon those individual swirls and whorls will be apparent. Our baby's eyes are looking forward now, but they are still firmly closed. Our baby's skeleton is tranforming from cartilage to bone. The bones remain flexible to make the journey through the birth canal easier.

I'm slowly seeing my stomach get larger but overall there hasn't been much that has gone on this week. I'm still waiting to feel the baby move -- all the flutters I keep reading about! I'm looking forward to that! By the end of this week, my uterus will be the size of a cantaloupe or little larger.

This weekend, Emile and I checked out our first new home location -- Connecticut! We both really liked the area and could see ourselves raising our family there. We'll have to see how the next few weeks pan out.

Week 16

Yesterday was 16 weeks! I thought this was going to be the start of my last week of month 4. Turns out, I didn't realize month 3 has five weeks in it (Weeks 9-13), so that means month 4 actually started with week 14 and I'll start month 5 at the beginning of week 18. Here's the breakdown for those who don't know how this works:

First Trimester

Month 1: Weeks 1-4
Month 2: Weeks 5-8
Month 3: Weeks 9-13

Second Trimester
Month 4: Weeks 14-17
Month 5: Weeks 18-21
Month 6: Weeks 22-26

Third Trimester
Month 7: Weeks 27-30

Month 8: Weeks 31-35

Month 9: Weeks 36-40

I've started getting super hungry again in the last few days and my stomach is itching. So I think the baby is going through another grow spurt. I'm excited that my baby bump is getting bigger and looking less like fat. All these changes are pretty exciting. The baby weighs probably about 2 3/4 ounces right now and by the end of this week will be about 3 1/2 ounces and the size of my hand spread open wide! Our baby now has soft hair, called lanugo, all over his/her body and has well formed fingernails. His/her (we're now saying "shim") legs are longer than the arms and all four can move a lot now! This week, "shim" will form a lot more body fat. Hopefully, soon, I'll be able to feel the baby move!

I had my 16 week doctor's appointment this past Wednesday. Dr. Jin confirmed that I'm type O- and thus, depending on Emile's blood type (if he's type A, B or O +), then I'll have to get the RhoGam shot at 28 weeks and after the baby is born. This isn't anything dangerous or to be worried about -- it's only preventive, to ensure my body doesn't form antibodies against the baby's blood if the baby's blood were to mix somehow with mine and was a + type. This could just cause problems with me getting pregnant in the future if I end up forming the antibodies. So they take precautions.

We also got to hear our baby's heartbeat again at the doctor's using a Doppler machine. It was so reassuring and comforting since I can't tell what's going on. Dr. Jin said I wasn't showing yet but we think she's crazy. Whether the baby is just pushing my stomach up and the baby's still below my bellybutton (which is the case) or whether the bump is all baby -- I look pregnant versus fat so I'm going with it. Our next appointment with her is January 2. Assuming the baby cooperates, we should be able to find out the sex of the baby!! YAY!!

My mom is in town this weekend and we've done a ton of baby-related items. It's been fun. On Friday, we went to Baby's R Us and added some more things to my wish list. I'm using the registry as away of keeping track of what I want to buy over the next few months. Yesterday, my mom, Emile and I took an excursion out to New Jersey to a baby furniture store, Cribs and Teen City in Paramus (we left the island! without flying or me going to work!). It was definitely an adventure. Since we don't own cars, we had to find alternative way to get there. To save money we decided not to rent a car but instead we took: 1) a cab to Penn Station; 2) a train from Penn Station to Secaucus Station in New Jersey; 3) another train from Secaucus Station to Radburn Station in Fairlawn, New Jersey; and 4) a cab from Fairlawn to Paramus (which getting a cab in NJ is not like hailing one in NYC -- we had to call for a cab, wait awhile for a guy to come from his house to pick us up and he didn't really know how to get where we were going). Then after we looked around the store, we repeated steps 1-4 in reverse after waiting 30 minutes for a cab to come get us -- I love NYC public transportation and missed it being in New Jersey!

It was worth the trip though. We found the crib furniture we were originally interested in (Munire Antigua) and realized we didn't really like it that much. But luckily, they had a number of other Munire cribs. We decided on the Munire Savannah set in ivory! We ordered the crib, combo dresser (short one in the photo), foam mattress and changing pad (they were having a deal on buying those four together). My parents bought us the crib part of the set which was wonderful and really appreciated!

Week 15

I've "popped"! I am definitely showing now and it felt like it occurred almost overnight. Towards the end of this week, coworkers could even notice a huge difference. There is nothing to suck in anymore. And it now looks like I'm carrying low (for now). Emile and I can't stop smiling about the changes. I definitely look pregnant instead of fat which is a nice feeling!

Our baby will be about the 4 1/3 to 4 2/3 inches by the end of this week. Between this week and week 17, our baby will have grown from about the size of a softball to the size of my hand stretched out. One of these days I should start feeling the baby move in flutters (usually happens between now and around 20 weeks -- hopefully I'm one of the women who feels it earlier!).

One nice thing about being in the second trimester is now I have to pee less! I actually sleep through the night without getting up 4-5 times to pee! Yay!

My next doctor appointment is this Wednesday. I'm looking forward to going in again. I hope Dr. Jin at least uses a doppler to hear the heartbeat -- it's such a reasurring sound! We should find out on Wednesday when we get go in to find out the sex of our baby! I can't wait.

Today Emile and I got our Christmas tree for our first Christmas married -- this time next year we'll be celebrating our first christmas with our baby!