Feeling great at 18 weeks 2 days

I want to give those of your who are are still feeling pretty rotten some hope that things should get better soon! Although I was fortunate and never vomited during the first trimester, I felt horrible all day, every day and was exhausted, sleeping whenever the nausea would calm down enough for me to relax a bit. The first couple weeks of the second trimester were better but I was still feeling unlike myself but since about 17 1/2 weeks I finally feel good again!

I have always struggled with anemia and figured that at 16w2d when I was still feeling more tired than I expected to feel once I made it into the second tri that my iron was probably a bit low, so I made sure my midwife did blood work to check on it. Sure enough I was right and started taking an iron supplement, in addition to my pre-natal vitamins, this week. My energy is finally improving.

As of 16w2d, I had gained 2 pounds since my 10 week checkup, up to 124lbs. I weighed myself on the weekend and was up another pound or 1 1/2 pounds as of 17w 6d. See below picture of how much baby has grown in 3 weeks, since 13w2d to 16w2d:

Isn't s/he adorable? I can't wait to kiss those cheeks and those little hands and feet! I can't wait to see him/her again at 19 weeks (next Monday!).

I am finally fairly confident that I can feel the baby moving. I have been feeling it since about 16 1/2 weeks but wasn't sure it was actually the baby. At first it felt almost like a muscle twitch in my uterus. Now it's more like little bubbles... although yesterday s/he must have done a total somersault or something because I felt it and it was stronger than usual, and then when I poked it with my fingers and rested my hand on my belly I could actually feel it from the outside! I think 18 weeks is early to be feeling it from the outside, but I read that if you're thin it's possible. I don't know, but I can't wait for those little nudges to get stronger so I have constant reassurance that s/he's doing well in there, and so that DH can feel it.

We are still set on keeping the gender a surprise but I might just go crazy waiting. DH jokes that it's going to be like the Lion King when s/he's finally born, he'll get to hold him/her up and announce it to the world. I have started pinning things I love for the nursery and will need to figure out how to make it gender neutral in such a way that I can then personalize it once the baby has arrived.

I also need to say that I am so lucky to have such a supportive hubby. My clothes are tight and uncomfortable (I haven't been to buy any maternity clothes yet!) and I still don't look pregnant, just a little round in the middle and every day he tells me I'm beautiful and loves all over my belly. I just feel so happy every day!!

Relief... :)

Amniotic fluid is all normal. Apparently either it was a little low and then reversed itself or the tech just didn't measure it properly. Frustrating. Either way, baby is looking great. We got to see almost everything during the ultra sound at 16 weeks 2 days. The tech showed us a cross section of the brain, the little nose, the mandibles, the heart beating away (150bpm again this time!), the stomach and bladder both filled with fluid (which means the baby is swallowing the amniotic fluid like s/he should and the kidneys are working which was my original fear about the amniotic fluid being low - yay!), we saw both arms and hands and both feet with teeny tiny toes. It was incredible. She could tell the gender but we don't want to know, we are keeping it a surprise for when s/he's born. I want DH to get to announce the gender on the birth day! Seriously.... wow. Obviously I was a bit emotional because I was concerned that I could be getting some bad news so I definitely shed a few happy tears when I got to see with my own eyes that all was well. In fact, baby is measuring spot on and bigger (up to a week bigger!) on every measurement. We got the official report from the doctor on Friday that confirmed everything they could visualize is normal... and we get to go back at 19 weeks for a second anatomy scan so they can re-measure and have another look once the baby is a little more developed.

It has been such a relief. I won't even share where my mind was going during those 2.5 weeks of torture waiting to know if baby would be ok. Plus my belly was starting to expand ever so slightly that I knew it would only be a matter of time until people started asking questions and we weren't ready to spread the word until we knew everything was okay. We even delayed our trip to see my grandmother. BUT, since it was happy news we have spent the last 5 days telling our immediate family and it's been so exciting to see their reactions and actually talk about the pregnancy. It really makes it real. I can hardly wait until this weekend to tell my grandmother that she's going to be a great grandma for the first time.

Feeling so blessed.... and like I need to buy some pants that fit! I'll update again soon.