24 Weeks!

My baby boy
-Is now viable! This means that if I were to go into pre-term labor, the doctors would do whatever they can to stop contractions and keep him in there as long as possible. Before this week, they wouldn't stop contractions. My midwife said he also has a 50% chance of survival outside the womb. It goes up each week, and at 37 week (13 weeks from now, holy cow!) he'll be considered full term.

-He is about the length of an ear of corn (just over a foot long), and weighs over a pound. He's a skinny little sucker!

-He is running out of room in my uterus, which will continue to expand and give him more room (but he'll also continue to grow, so he's going to be pretty cramped in there for a while!)

Let's Talk About Me
Weight Change: At the advice of my midwife, I am no longer weighing myself on a weekly basis. However, I had my midwife appointment today and my weight hasn't changed since my last appointment ("doing good", says my midwife).

Symptoms/Feelings: Feeling Ty kick a lot! I'm feeling his patterns of activity on a daily basis, and seeing what makes him more active. I'm also feeling hiccups! I feel FANTASTIC. This is so weird for me, because the first trimester was kind of rough. I felt ugly and fat, I felt sick, I felt tired... etc. It's so different in the second trimester! I feel amazing. I feel like I look great (which I know is a really weird thing to admit, but I feel like my skin is glowing, my hair looks awesome, I feel like I look pregnant and cute, haha), I have more energy, and I just am really loving being pregnant. I LOVE it. I feel better now than I have in years, despite back pain and the fact that I wake up numerous times at night, and that I can't stay awake very late if I don't have a nap. Those are all just minor annoyances.

Cravings: Nothing really strong. I'm easily influenced, but nothing has been hitting me as far as cravings go. I was craving sweets yesterday and ate some candies, and now I'm golden.

Appointments: Had a midwife appointment today. The bad: There was protein in my urine (normally I have trace amounts of protein, today it was one square above trace- 0.3). I have to go on Thursday and drop off some pee in a cup to see if I have a UTI or bladder infection. My blood pressure was great (123/80 which is apparently "perfect"), so she said it's not pregnancy induced hypertension (or a symptom of pre-e). She thinks it's likely a UTI. An untreated UTI can cause pre-term labor, but I'll be tested on Thursday and if I do have a UTI I'll get on antibiotics and all will be just fine.

Everything else was fantastic. Baby was moving around a lot and she said that he seems really healthy (active baby is a good sign), and she felt him on my belly, said she thinks he's still head down. I was measuring at 27 weeks, which is good, and Tyron's heart rate was in the 140's (hard to get an accurate reading as he was kicking the doppler and moving away).

My glucose tolerance test (to test for gestational diabetes) is in 2 weeks. I'm doing the diagnostic test, which is two hours and requires 12 hours of fasting prior to the test. Fun! Apparently it's supposed to be more accurate than the normal 1 hour test.

Anything Big Happening? Yes! On Saturday is my baby shower!! I'm so excited. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law are coming out and Andrea (sister-in-law) is the one throwing it. I feel so blessed and SO EXCITED! I didn't think I was getting a shower at all, so this is just fantastic. And we get to spend the weekend with them, which will be fun!

Preparing for Baby: Haven't bought anything else yet. I'm waiting until after the shower, as Andrea tells me we are being spoiled. :) I did see some really cute fluffy winter suits (snow suit? I dunno... sorta. I don't want an actual snow suit, but these look really warm). They are at Old Navy and I want to get one for Ty for this winter. We'll get him a real water resistant snow suit next winter, but this winter something warm and thick to go over his clothes will be good.

23 weeks

No more weekly fruit comparisons! Now it's only every month that the fruit comparison changes. Baby is still growing, though more slowly than he grew at the beginning.

About Baby
-Tyron is now approximately 12 inches long and weighs just over a pound!
-He can sense movement now, so if I dance, he can feel it! Rocking motions of my body will rock him to sleep, which is why he tends to be more awake at night than during the day, I guess!
-Tyron is now mostly focusing on weight gain and growth, but he continues to learn and change each week. His digestive system is now mature enough to absorb nutrients from drinking amniotic fluid.
-All his senses work now, and he can sense the difference between light and darkness. He continues to explore his world with his hands and is listening to the sounds of my day. He loves to hear Ozzy barking, and jumps around when he hears it! He also loves music that is heavy on bass!

About Mommy
Weight Change: This week I gained 1.5lbs. Not too shabby! This puts my total weight change at -33.5lbs. While the average is 15lbs gained, I feel comfortable with what my body is doing. I know my body is taking good care of the baby.

Symptoms/Feelings: I'm hungry all day long! I eat every 2-3 hours, or I get sick. I got sick last night because my stomach was empty. It's really weird and unpleasant. Heartburn has started setting in no matter what I eat, but gaviscon is my friend. I'm also starting to deal with lower back pain! Nothing too bad, and I'm really really enjoying being pregnant.

Cravings: Was craving salad last night! Am craving yogurt with granola a lot. That's about it, though.

Appointments: Next week!

Anything Big Happening?: This weekend we're going to Medieval Times. We also had to deal with our first pet injury! Ozzy tore his dewclaw on Sunday. He's fine now, though I am practicing my first aid skills with changing his bandage. That's it for this week, though! Next week is more exciting. ;)

Preparing for Baby: We're starting to talk about parenting related things. I'm making plans to join a mommy group for play dates, and we're planning on taking advantage of Stars and Strollers so I can get out of the house. Doug and I talk a lot about our plans as parents, and things we want to do/values we want to instill in our son.

Belly Pic:
A different kind of belly pic this week. I find it pretty fascinating how round my belly is when I lay down. I think because laying down really shows the shape of my baby bump. And pre-pregnancy, my belly would be kind of flat looking when I laid down, so seeing this round belly popping up when I lay in bed is pretty amusing!

22 week update

From now on, the fruit comparison only goes by month. This is month five (weeks 21-24).

About Baby
-he is about 11-12.5 inches long and weighs about 12.25 ounces. Almost a pound!
-baby's brain is now growing rapidly (and that will continue for the next 5 years!)
-He is experiencing the sense of touch, and is practicing touching all his surroundings
-he also sleeps anywhere from 12-14 hours per day.

About Mommy
Weight Change: -2.5lbs this week, so I'm down about 35 lbs total. I'm trying not to worry about the weight loss, but it's difficult. Baby has always measured right on track, so I shouldn't worry too much about him. It's just weird to be losing so much weight, you know?

Symptoms/Feelings: Been feeling Ty move a lot, but still not really feeling super strong kicks. I can feel light taps, and thumps, which I guess count as kicks, I don't know what I'm really expecting to feel, though. I'm sure in a few weeks that will change and kicks will be more defined. His movement is really regular, though. Always around the same times during the day. I'm anxious to be able to feel/see movement on the outside, though.

Cravings: Soft pretzels, caramel apples, Mexican food (specifically beans and rice with salsa).

Appointments: Not until the 27th.

Anything big happening: We're getting our nursery furniture this weekend! Seeing Doug's dad, too! We're also going to find out about the two bedroom apartment soon, as well. We know there are two available in September, but we don't know which one will be ours.

Preparing for Baby: Like I said, we're getting the nursery furniture this weekend. We won't be doing much more than that until after we move. We did make a list of all the things we need, so if we end up needing to buy a lot of stuff, we won't be overwhelmed, and can put aside money for everything. We've been putting money aside, but won't buy anything until October. Also, we're going to be setting up a savings account for Tyron.

Belly Pics:

What's in a name?

Before we even decided to have kids, Doug and I knew the name of our first son. So it has been pretty easy to transition from calling him 'baby' to calling him by his name.

We are naming him Tyron Douglas after Doug's brother who passed away as a baby.

Tyron means 'land of the noble' and is pronounced like Byron. And of course, his middle name is his father's first name.

We're really excited to be calling our little boy Tyron (and sometimes Ty) before he's even born. We love him so much already!

21 Week Update

Baby is the size of a banana!
This week we start measuring the baby's length from head to toe, instead of head to rump.

At the end of this week, I will have officially completed 5 months of pregnancy! Crazy!

Weight Change: Down another 3 pounds from last week. I think I'm just going to stop with the weekly weight measurements. It's kind of pointless. I feel really awkward about my weight loss, and it's so stupid. I'll post the stats from my midwife appointments, though. My belly is growing (I took measurements, and it's ridiculous!) and I'm eating and drinking, so I just need to stop caring about my weight. At this point, I will most likely only gain enough to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight by the end of pregnancy. We'll see.

Symptoms/Feelings: No real major symptoms. My skin seems to be clearing up (knock on wood, haha), and I feel pretty great. I still throw up once in a while, but I am starting to not care much about that. I have to pee a lot during the day, and at night it's only been 2-4 times through the night (always at 3:30am!). I have felt baby move a LOT more lately as well. He thumps around in there several times throughout the day. It's much more regular than it was even just last week.

Cravings: Um... everything? Ice capps from Tim Hortons and sweets. And yes, I totally give in. I know it's not a great thing, but I sort of don't care. I am not eating junk food all day long, so I don't think it's a bad thing to give in to cravings when they hit me.

Appointments: None for a few weeks.

Anything big happening: Nothing, really. We are still planning on moving, but waiting to find out WHEN exactly. People are always moving out, and there are currently SEVEN vacant apartments in this building, so we'll definitely get one.

Preparing for baby: We were thinking of signing up for the free prenatal class in the city, but it's an hour away by bus from 7-9pm once a week for 6 weeks. I guess we could manage it, but we don't really feel it is totally necessary, and are not going to go. And we're too cheap to pay for any of the other classes. I don't feel that prenatal classes would really benefit us enough to justify the cost/inconvenience. We'd rather buy our stroller/car seat with that money.

Belly Pic: None this week. Sorry!