Week 23 -- Hello North Carolina

As you can see from the photo, the shirt I started out wearing for these photos back around week 4 is no longer covering my belly all the way. This is the case for almost everything now -- nothing fits even remotely close to how it used to. My winter jacket will hopefully make it though the season if I don't button all the buttons anymore.

I felt the baby kick my hand last Sunday (22w1d) which was a great feeling. Now if I could only get her to do those kicks when Emile has his hand on my belly! I'm sure that will happen soon.
She definitely seems to be more active after I ate or drank something cold. We'll have to focus on trying after those instances.

I've started getting leg cramps in the middle of the night which I have read can happen during pregnancy. I will definitely be increasing my intake of bananas as that's supposed to help. Luckily, I have yet to kick Emile or the cats during one of these leg spasm episodes. I'm starting to not be able to sleep as long as I used to. I'm not sure if that's due to being pregnant or if it's related to all that's going on right now in our lives. I have also noticed that the linea negra (line down the middle of a pregnant woman's belly) has started to form -- it's faint but definitely there.

This week has been incredibly hectic for Emile and I. I finished up at my job in Newark, NJ and packed up my office to start telecommuting from home beginning on Monday. The movers came on Wednesday, packed and loaded all our belongings, including the pump for the air mattress we were going to sleep on that night which means we now own two air mattresses. Thursday, Emile and I, with the two cats in tow, drove for about 10 hours to Durham, North Carolina (takes a lot longer to get down here when you have to stop to deal with cat issues!). We're now settled into our temporary apartment which is significantly better than what we had in NYC -- two bedroom, dishwasher, washer/dryer. The area is great -- a lot of stores nearby. So far in the two days we've been here, we've gotten new driver licenses, registered our car, picked up our car from storage, went out to walk through our new house again (we're so happy with our choice!), went grocery shopping at two stores (Trader Joes and Harris Teeter -- it is fabulous to have a grocery store nearby again that has a lot of selection), went to Best Buy twice, Petsmart, Sprint, and Target (yay!! Target is nearby again :). To say the least, we're exhausted. I think tomorrow will entail lounging around and reading on cloth diaper brands to choose from.

Week 22 -- Goodbye NYC!

I am now done with my 5th month of pregnancy -- wow!! These last few weeks have gone by fast. Three months to go! I've started feeling her kick a lot more now and more on a schedule, although from what I've read, the kicks don't necessarily have to be consistent or every day like the doctors expect in the 3rd trimester. But I definitely can tell a pattern -- she seems to start kicking around 11:30 p.m. and again around 3:30 a.m. So I'm guessing, from what I've read, these will probably be some of the hours I'm up with her once she's born. :)

She's probably around 7.5 inches long now and by the end of this week getting close to, if not more than, a pound! She's starting to get plumper now. Her body and face are starting to take on more of an appearance of what she'll look like as an infant -- how exciting!

Our growing family is moving to North Carolina this Thursday, January 23rd!!!! We can't believe how fast things have moved over the last week and a half. The car Emile bought in Minnesota over Christmas has arrived in NC. The packers are coming on Wednesday. On Thursday, we pack up what we'll need for a month in a rental car with the two cats and head to NC. We will be staying in temporary corporate housing in Durham, NC until February 22nd at which point we will be closing on our first house!!! We're so excited. We just received confirmation from our realtor that the seller signed off on the paper work. We have just bought a 4 bedroom, two-story home in Wake Forest, NC. And we'll be moving in with enough time to set-up the nursery before our little girl arrives! The link on the right to "Our photos" will take you to photos of our new house (as well as photos of our wedding and honeymoon).

Emile will be starting his new job with GSK on February 4th and I will begin working from home starting January 28th. I will be still working for ENVIRON but from our home office. My previous boss in Los Angeles, Joe, is going to take me on as a telecommuting employee through our SoCal office. He has a number of other people telecommuting for him. I'm excited to be working with him and the SoCal group again. It's nice to have a boss who appreciates me and sees the value in keeping me as an employee. And I'll have a 30 second commute from our bed to the office!

The sad part -- we're leaving one of our favorite cities, New York City! I am very sad to be leaving the area, although extremely excited for all the new things coming up in NC and our new home. But unlike leaving CA, I think we'll miss NYC quite a bit. I'm going to miss:

• My weekend walks in Central Park around the Reservoir
• The Met
• Seeing all the skyscrapers in Midtown including the Empire State Building
• Shopping on 5th Avenue
• New York pizza
• All the amazing restaurant options
• Times Square
• Seeing Broadway musicals
• The convenience of the subway and the yellow cabs
• Hearing a different language around every corner
• The Brooklyn Bridge
• The Statue of Liberty
• New Year's Eve in Central Park
• Chunky Chicken Salad Sandwiches at Gracies
• Running in races in Central Park
• The MOMA, the Guggenheim, the Whitney
• The Opera
• Chinatown
• Washington Square and Greenwich Village
• Magnolia Bakery's cupcakes
• SoHo
• The tall condo buildings on Park Ave
• St. Patrick's Cathedral and Rockefeller Center

And I'm sure I'm still missing a few! :)

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.

Week 20 -- Half Way!

I can't believe I'm already half way through my pregnancy! Time is going so fast. It probably helps that Emile and I were traveling for the last 2 1/2 weeks between Minnesota, Wisconsin and now returning today from North Carolina. Plenty of things going on to keep us busy.

Unfortunately this week I've been feeling pretty horrible due to a bad cold I picked up over the holidays. A sore throat, being stuffed up and having an earache combined with a belly that's getting big has not made sleeping very productive the last few days. Hopefully, it clears up soon.

This week our daughter should be about 9 oz. and have a crown-to-rump length of about 6 inches. I'm getting big myself! I can definitely feel that the top of my uterus is now at or slightly above my belly button.

Now that Emile and I are getting closer to deciding where we'll be living next month, I'm going to start looking into birth plans and more ideas for girl names. We have picked out the bedding we like:

I love the lavender with butterfly look although we would definitely not have all this in the nursery -- way to much in one room. We'll probably get the sheets, dust ruffle, blanket, hamper, diaper stacker, valence and the walk squares.

I also ordered my Amy Michelle diaper bag that I'm super excited about (link in the side bar).

I have a feeling the next 4.5 months is going to go very quickly!

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.