Week 21

I love being pregnant! I can probably say this because I didn't get bad morning sickness and I'm not yet 8 months pregnant and horribly uncomfortable. But right now, I love it! It's great seeing all the changes my body can go through to nurture a new life. I like my baby bump (please just stay in the front, that's all I ask!). And feeling her kick is wonderful! But I'm more excited to hold her soon!

The only major change I've noticed this week is that I feel her kick more frequently and can kinda feel it on the outside of my body. I don't think others would be able tell as much yet though if you put your hand on my belly. I have also noticed the top of my belly button is starting to stick out! I thought this wouldn't happen until another 10 weeks from now but it's started. We'll see how long before the whole thing sticks out.

Our baby girl is about the size of a large banana right now (I know, strange that they compare baby sizes to fruit but helpful for visualization). She probably weighs around 10.5 ounces by now.

I had another anatomy ("big") ultrasound this past Thursday. Last time I went in on the 20th, they were not able to get a good view of her heart, spine, lungs, kidneys or hands. This time, the technician was able to see all these clearly except the heart. There was definitely 4 chambers of the heart as there should be but our daughter was already being stubborn and wouldn't roll over to be in the right position for the technician to verify everything related to the heart. I even drank 2 glasses of orange juice (sugar gets them moving more), walked around and rolled over to my left side while taking deep breathes, all in hopes she would roll over -- nope, she wasn't interested! So I will be going in again on January 22nd to try one more time to get a good view of her heart. The technician said everything looked great so far but they need to confirm those last few things to have a complete assessment. If she doesn't cooperate the next time, I'll need to go in for a fetal echo (not sure what that is yet). Below are some great photos of her spine and hands (5 fingers on each hand!). It's amazing the detail they can get! And she reconfirmed that she's a she. :)




Our other big news is we're moving! Emile has accepted a job with GlaxoSmithKline ("GSK") in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. We're so excited!! It's such a beautiful area! And we're looking into buying a house and will hopefully be placing an offer on one this week! We're moving on January 24th which is coming up incredibly soon. Luckily, my office is going to allow me to telecommute from home which will be great when the baby is born. I'm really excited for all the changes coming up in our very near future. We'll keep you posted as to which house we get.