15 weeks!

Continuing the march towards normal proportions, baby's legs now outmeasure the arms. And, finally, all four limbs have functional joints. Your fetus is squirming and wiggling like crazy down in the womb, though you probably still can't feel the movements.

Although many women don't start feeling the baby move until the 17th week (or later), your baby has been having his own party in the amniotic sac he calls home. If you feel a little flutter in your belly this week, don't discount it as gas or hunger. It could be your babe banging around. Here's more to look forward to:


Baby's head is now resting on his well-formed neck instead of directly on his shoulders like Igor. He's beginning to grow eyebrows and eyelashes this week. (All the better to give you that "Mom, you're crazy" look when he's a teenager.) The hair on the head also begins to grow and, with some creative styling, you'll be able to turn those locks into a Maddox Jolie-Pitt faux-hawk some day.
Although baby's eyes are sealed shut, he's now able to sense light. His eyes and ears finally look like real baby features now. As your baby practices sucking and swallowing actions, he may actually hiccup. You'll know he's had one too many shots of amniotic fluid by the steady thump-thump you feel.
Over the next month, baby will grow faster than ever, so make sure you load up on enough nutritious food and fluids to support his growth. Your baby now measures nearly 4 inches, about the size of a Kit Kat "finger" (regular-size, not the Big one you get at the movies), and weighs almost 2 ounces.

How Far Along: 15.5 Weeks!

Total Weight Lost/ Gained: you guessed it again, 130 still.
Maternity Clothes: Last night I tried on a dress with high hopes - no such luck. Let me point out, however, it was not due to me thinking I looked awful or anything like that. The dress was just made very oddly (oddly? is that a word. it is now). SO its still the trusted bella band and my normal clothes which are getting cuter the bigger my belly gets I think.
Gender: We will know AUGUST 12TH!!!
Movement: Umm there is a slight possibility? Last week I thought I MIGHT have felt it? But have felt nothing since so who knows, probably just gas :)
What I miss: SLEEP. See next question.
Sleep: Awful. I went for about a week where I tossed and turned maybe every 30-45 minutes all night long. Since then I am now sleeping with a pillow between my legs, one at my head, and one underneath my stomach/hips and that seems to be better, but still not great. I thought sleep was suppose to be this bad at like 30 weeks, not 15...haha
Symptoms: Ok...still waiting on this 'energy boost' everyone raves about. Mine definitely has not hit yet. At all.
Cravings: Food in general. Yep. I love it.
Best Moment this week: We got our free ultrasound and it was the coolest experience I have had so far. WOW.
What I'm looking forward to: 2 weeks until Baby B is he or she!
------------
 
OUR ULTRASOUND:
So last Thursday we decided to check out this 'free' ultrasound place. Turns out its legit and I am SO glad we did it We walked in and signed a list and waited. I decided to pay for pictures because there is no way I could walk out of there without them ha.
We were called in and they did the cold jelly and there I layed. They then continued to mess with the ultrasound machine like something was wrong/ the couldn't figure something out. Meanwhile the ultrasound knob (yes, i know this isn't the technical term) was on my belly- but you could see NOTHING moving. This is when I got kind of worried and tried to calm myself but it was a little weird.
Finally they said oh theres the button, and the machine came to life. They told us it was an older US machine because the other one had broken.
They searched around and then there was little Baby B! except this time it was not a little blob, it was a little baby. Face, arms, legs, and a pooched little belly :) It was the sweetest thing and we just sat in awe and watched as the moved around. Baby b was jumping and kicking around and even pulled its arm up and waved at us several times! Perfect looking fingers, toes, face. That feeling was the best one in the world.
We moved US machines because the girls wanted to try the newer one. I told them I was COMPLETELY fine with that haha.
We got to that one which was much more clear. They were looking at EVERYTHING because they are students and this is how they learn about everything. She even looked at my gallbladder ha!
We left there with the biggest smiles on our faces. I cannot WAIT for our next one in August.

14 Weeks

Your Baby: Week 14

Your adorable little fetus is busy with thumb sucking, toe wiggling, and (not so cute but equally amazing) making urine and breathing amniotic fluid as the liver, kidneys and spleen continue to develop. Lanugo (thin, downy hair) is growing all over the body for warmth.
Your baby is continuing to grow and mature at this point. Your baby’s arms are going to begin to lengthen and be more proportioned to the rest of the body. The liver is beginning to produce bile, while the spleen is beginning to produce red blood cells.
The development of your baby’s brain enables him/her to use his/her facial muscles to grimace, frown, and squint. He/she may even be sucking his/her thumb. Because you have begun the second trimester and most of the critical development has been completed, the chance of miscarriage decreases.*

How Far Along: 14.5 Weeks!
Total Weight Lost/ Gained: you guessed it, 130 still.

Maternity Clothes: My wonderful mother bought me my first Maternity items :) She surprised me with a very cute jean skirt! It has one of those enormous panels on it that stretches with you which I think is hilarious to look at right now, but surprisingly VERY comfy! We went into Target that night to try to find a shirt for our Family Reunion picture...no luck. Everything is HUGE or weird haha. ONE shirt worked, but it was black (we must wear white or navy) but she bought it for me anyways!
Gender: We will know AUGUST 12TH!!!
Movement: Nope. My cousin has felt some though and she's just 3 weeks ahead of me so it'll be soon!
What I miss: Coffee, brain, and my head feeling normal and not having headaches.
Sleep: Eh, its up and down.
Symptoms: Ok...still waiting on this 'energy boost' everyone raves about. Mine definitely has not hit yet. At all.
Cravings: Really no specific cravings lately- just a lot of foods that sound REALLY good.
Best Moment this week: Found out Tuesday that there is a place who does FREE ultrasounds- and we got in for an appointment THURSDAY!
What I'm looking forward to: The ultrasound of course and next month when we know boy or girl!

13 weeks and counting

13 weeks pregnant!
Your fetus is forming teeth and vocal cords... savor this, their non-functional phase. Baby is approaching normal proportions, with a head now only one third the size of the body. Intestines are in the process of moving from the umbilical cord to baby's tummy. (Much more convenient.)
--
Up until this point, your baby’s head has been the largest part of his/her body, but that is beginning to change. Your baby’s head is now only about 1/3 of his/her total body. Unique fingerprints are now located on the tips of your baby’s fingers. The kidney and urinary tract are completely functional which allows the amniotic fluid he/she has been swallowing to be excreted. Covering your baby’s skin is a fine, soft hair called lanugo.
How Far Along: 13.5 Weeks!

Total Weight Lost/ Gained: 130 still.
Maternity Clothes: The trusted BellaBand. I did wear an empire waist shirt that I thought would hide the semi-bloated-belly I have but instead it made it much more noticeable -- to me anyways.
Gender: 4.5weeks until we know! :)
Movement: Nope
What I miss: My coffee. Really, there is not too much else I am missing...besides my brain I guess. I am so crazy. Yesterday I asked Chad the exact same question back to back. I asked - he answered... I asked again.
Sleep: I still haven't slept like 'normal' but I have had a few really good nights sleep which has been great!
Symptoms: Yay for no more morning sickness! I am so ready for this second trimester. Everyone talks about how much energy you have...I'm still tired and the headaches have gotten worse so bring on the energy boost!
Cravings: Really no specific cravings lately- just a lot of foods that sound REALLY good.
Best Moment this week: I had about 2 nights of GOOD sleep! and we go to the doctor Thursday so I can't wait to hear the heartbeat!
What I'm looking forward to: The doctors visit Thursday and this weekend when I enter the Second Trimester!
------
Last weekend was a little tough but it was really good to see a lot of family members. Grandma's funeral was started off by lots and lots of old friends coming in and sharing stories and laughing with each other. I watched everyone smiling and it really hit me that this was a Celebration of her life rather than a heartbreaking funeral. Of course everyone was sad but overall it was nice seeing all these friends of hers come to remember her.
It was good seeing our family and we head back up there in a couple weeks for a family reunion.
THIS weekend we are headed to Memphis! YAY! It has been too long. Chad and I are driving seperate which means I get Starbucks before the trip so I don't fall asleep haha.
On a random note - Winston is getting HUGE. I'm sure we will take some pictures soon!

12 weeks! and other stuff going on

Baby's now the size of a plum!

As you move into the second trimester, baby shifts into the growth and maturation stage. After weeks in the critical development stage, almost all of baby's systems are fully formed.

Your uterus is continuing to grow, and your healthcare provider can now actually feel it in your lower abdomen. You may not need maternity clothes at this point, but you may have noticed that things are not fitting as well. If this is a subsequent pregnancy, you will most likely need maternity clothes sooner than a woman who has never been pregnant before.


You may have also noticed that your skin is changing, such as the darkening of the areola. Other changes you may have noticed include irregular dark patches on your face and neck. These are called chloasma or mask of pregnancy. These patches normally disappear or become lighter shortly after delivery.
This week your baby will begin to take on more of a normal appearance as the eyes move closer together and the ears move closer to their final position. The intestines have grown so fast that they actually extend into the umbilical cord, but they will begin to move back into the abdomen. The kidneys can now secrete urine, and the nervous system is continuing to mature. Your baby may have developed more complicated reflexes such as sucking
First trimester: Check! The nausea, fatigue, mood swings, and bathroom dashes should soon fade, but (sorry!) headaches and dizziness will probably get more intense. The good news: You're about to embark on the second trimester, when mood and energy levels generally peak.

(I know the above is kind of jumbled but I just took paragraphs from all my emails that I get updates from - thats why it doesn't flow so easily ha)

How Far Along: 12.5 weeks!

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 130. Up 2 pounds. I'm going to speak on this a moment. It's not like I am WANTING to gain weight, but I kind of get excited when I see I've gained a little. However, the fact that it has only been 2 pounds is amazing. My belly looks like i've gained more like 6 and it's cool that its just everything stretching out instead of fat just collecting on my gut :)
Maternity Clothes: BellaBand! I did try on a pair of maternity shorts...didn't work out so well. I thik I need to give it more time haha.
Gender: 5.5weeks until we know! :)
Movement: nothin yet
What I miss: Wanna guess? Coffee. However, the other day I did give in and get a Starbucks and IT-WAS-AMAZING. That caffeine kept me going well into the afternoon!
Sleep: I have now put a pillow in between my legs. The difference isn't huge but it does help. I've slept a little better the past few nights.
Symptoms: I believe my 'morning' sickness phase is over. Woo hoo! For now symptoms are just uncomfortableness (...just go with it), and yes, this is TMI but I cannot go to the bathroom to save my life.
Cravings: Taco Bell :)  My sweet tooth is slowly coming back. Last night I saw a commercial for a foot long chili cheese coney at Sonic and I felt like I could have eaten 4 of them. MAN those look good.
Best Moment this week: 'morning' sickness gone!
--------
On other notes Cheslie came to visit last weekend! We watched Valentine's Day Friday night...bust. Saturday though we went to one of our friends farms where they have a lake that he stocks with fish. We (my family and us) headed out and there was MAJOR construction going on so we were stuck on the road forever. Someone mentioned she thought we should stay on the road we were on but instead the boys decided to take a detour and then later on mentioned that someone ended up being right :) Ok, i'll get off my pedistal now.
We got there around lunch time (meaning to get there around 10) and went ahead and ate our lunches. We packed lunch meats, bread, cheeses, etc. I don't know about anyone else but my sandwich was REALLY good. Just turkey, gouda cheese, lettuce, and mustard on a hoagie!
After that we baited up and went out to fish. Oh, I did forget to mention that Winston came along on this voyage. He LOVED every moment exploring EVERYTHING. He would only get paw deep (ha) in the water though so later Chad decided to throw, no not toss, not gently push, but throw him in to get him used to the water. I looked up right as I saw Winston several feet above the water wriggling around looking like "HOLY COOOOOWWWW! NOOOOOO". I'm just giving my opinion. Who knows what he was really thinking. Don't worry, this is NOT how we are going to teach our kid to swim...
Anyways we started fishing. Everyone caught one, and Chad caught two. Chelsie and I then went up and sat in the shade with Mom and Dad. Chad continued to fish all around the  lake. Ending number = still 2. Chad had made it halfway around the lake with Winston and we were sitting across on the other side watching. I then started to call Winston's name just to see what he would do. I was calling him, saying 'good boy' and I walked out on a little dirt peninsula to get as close as I could. (funny side note - right now when I tried to type 'could' what came out initially was 'cood'. C'mon pregnant brain, hang in there!)
Winston, bless his heart, jumped right in with joy and started swimming. Now this lake isn't HUGE but its not tiny either. He got about halfway and then realized what he was in for. Poor thing gave me the look of failure and then turned around. It was the cutest thing.
After we were done fishing we headed out to Old Navy and bought the famous $5 flag shirts. Red - White - and Blue. That's right. We are THAT cool.

(this is the zoomed in version of where Winston swam from and where I was standing!)

Sunday we went to church and then lunch at Logans with the fam. That night we went to our small group and ate with them and then headed to our second anual 'Thunder on the Mountain' show on top of Brookwood hospital. Well, the parking deck at least. Brought some snacks and watched the 25 minute show. They cut their budget by $20,000 this year but it was still decent. After that we went home and watched Bounty Hunter. It was ok. I wouldn't watch it again but it was OK.

(Its IBC people, don't freak)

Monday Chad went and played golf and Chelsie and I went shopping and had a nice lunch at Olive Garden! She left that afternoon :(
----
My grandma:
This weekend my grandmother passed away. Saturday night she went to bed and couldn't breath and then ended up passing out. They rushed her by ambulance to the hospital but she never woke back up. She had some brain damage and then she went into kidney failure. Sunday my Mom ended up driving up to Indiana right after lunch and got there around 12:30 AM. She was the only one able to be there with my Grandfather and that morning at 10:40 my grandma passed away. This weekend we are heading up to Indiana for the funeral on Saturday at 2:30.