23 Weeks!

How far along? 23 Weeks and 5 days!

Total weight gain: 8 lbs

Maternity Clothes? yes, as the colder weather comes I am realising I am going to need a maternity sweater. 

Stretch Marks? Nope! My belly button is starting to look weird though! 

Sleep? great this week! I have been so busy, I get exhausted easily! 

Best moment this week: Watching my best friend get married! We also had another ultrasound this week so seeing the baby was great too!

Wedding rings on or off? On 

Miss anything? alcohol again! Who knew I would miss that so often. lol! At the wedding I had to keep running for cranberry juice to be able to do toasts and everyone was talking about how great the wine was and I couldn't even try it! booo. We are saving our favour bottles for January!

Movement? A lot more this week! On Saturday Nikki was able to feel little Stella move for the first time! It was a sweet touch that it happened to be her wedding day too! It felt like Stella was dancing the night away with us!

Food cravings? pop. It's so weird. I don't normally drink pop but I seem to want it all the time these days. 

Anything making you queasy or sick? Nothing this week thankfully!

Have you started to show yet? haha this question seems funny now.
Gender: Girl!

Symptoms: leakage this week. I had my 23 week OB apt this week and this lead me to getting a cervical thickness ultrasound to ensure everything was fine. There is a risk involved with my uterine septum causing my cervix to be thin. The results came back normal and Stella still has plenty of fluid around her. We are very thankful for this! 

Happy or moody most of the time? Happy this week! :)  

Labour Signs: No!

Belly Button in or out? out and always visible, especially in my bridesmaid dress last weekend! 

Looking forward to: Lets do a not looking forward to this week:

- diabetes testing

- Rhogam shot
- having to go these appointments all on my own since it will be Paul's first day of his pediatric rotation. boooo. 

There is 1 year and three months between these photos! There's also been two husbands and two babies added along the way!

22 Weeks!

How far along? 22 weeks and 6 days!

Total weight gain: 8 lbs

Maternity Clothes? Yes! As the cooler weather comes I'm trying to fit into more of my pre pregnancy clothes though. It isn't going great. :P 

Stretch Marks? Nope!

Sleep? Still not great as we are still adjusting to my husbands ever changing schedule.

Best moment this week: One night this week I was laying down and my belly went flat all except where Stella was! It was so cool to see. She really is growing in there! I also had a realisation that my girl can almost have a fighting chance at living outside my body, such an emotional moment! 

Wedding rings on or off? On 

Miss anything? my energy!  

Movement? Lots! It's hard to differentiate between when she is sleeping and decreased movement. I'm so paranoid about these things. 

Food cravings? Nothing crazy this week. I feel like I eat ALL the time though. I'm hungry every hour and a half. 

Anything making you queasy or sick? I gagged on lasagna this week. It was definitely a throw back to my first trimester and a nice reminder of how much better I feel lately!

Have you started to show yet? Yes! Bigger and bigger each day :)
Gender: Girl!

Symptoms: Light headed and cold sweats if I stand too long. Should make for a great time at my best friend's wedding this weekend where I'm the maid of honour. Oh and the ceremony is on ice! Yikes! 

Happy or moody most of the time? Happy mostly!  

Labour Signs: No!

Belly Button in or out? Out but the bottom half still goes in. It's weird. It's also starting to show through the belly band of my maternity pants. Attractive right? 
Looking forward to: My best friend's wedding, my OB apnt next week and my husband having two whole days off in a row this weekend! 

A little visitor in our backyard!

21 Weeks!

How far along? 21 weeks and 6 days!

Total weight gain: 7 lbs

Maternity Clothes? yes! I am sad fall in coming, I don't know when I will get to wear my maternity shorts again... although I may just wear them next year since they are so comfy!  

Stretch Marks? Not yet but my skin is stretching. Talk about an itchy belly- UGH!

Sleep? With Paul being in the hospital now, sleep is hard. I think this is more adjusting to a new routine than pregnancy keeping me up though.  

Best moment this week: Sending Paul to his first day in the hospital! It really feels like we are one step closer to him being a real doctor!!!

Wedding rings on or off? On 

Miss anything? having a car! Not really pregnancy related at all but I feel like a caged animal now that Paul has our car every day at the hospital.  

Movement? TONS!!! I'm loving feeling baby girl kick and jump around. It's also very exciting to be able to watch the movement from the outside! I've started feeling movements on the other side of my uterus too, weird feeling!  

Food cravings?  Unfortunately it has been sugar this week. 

Anything making you queasy or sick? nothing! Thank goodness! 

Have you started to show yet? Yes, people are just assuming I am pregnant now. It's nice to know I'm not just looking fat.
Gender: Girl!!! It's nice to finally be able to answer this one! 

Symptoms: Light headed and tired

Happy or moody most of the time? happy mostly this week!

Labor Signs: No!

Belly Button in or out? I think we can officially say I have an outie. 

Looking forward to: All the sewing I have to do for her! 

Here's the latest purchases for our baby girl!

The Big Reveal!

This has to be the post I have been looking forward to the most so far this pregnancy!
We had our Ultrasound on Monday, August 26 at 1 PM. When the ultrasound tech first started she showed me baby and said that it was all curled up with it legs crossed and feet resting on its head, which meant she couldn't see the sex of the baby. The head was so far down in my pelvis that it was resting on my cervix! Baby P was also faced towards my back. This made some of the measurements very difficult for her. We tried for the whole ultrasound to get baby to flip over but it appears to already be stubborn and wouldn't cooperate no matter how many times I rolled around on the bed, went pee or she poked at my stomach. She was able to see the sex of the baby later in the u.s. (thank goodness!!) but baby made the frontal brain measurements quite difficult. The tech ended up pushing the ultrasound transducer into my tummy to try to see the other side of baby's face and was able to get the measurement. During the ultrasound baby was shaking it's head no a lot! Too cute. It's hand was up by the ear in a little fist. It was all so amazing to see! She wasn't allowed to tell us the gender of the baby so we had to wait until our Dr's apt right after.
We first saw the fellow (since we are being seen in a teaching hospital- the same one my husband is learning in!) and she asked us our guesses. Of course Paul had thought boy and I had thought girl. Then she said to Paul, "well you know who is always right, it's a girl!!!!" We couldn't be happier to be having a girl. I'm already dreaming of headbands and tutus all day and night and what my beautiful little girl will look like. We have named her Stella, with a middle name to be announced at a later date!

Sharing the news with our families was so exciting. My mom was set on the baby being a boy. We had to wait a whole 5 days to tell them, it was so hard! I'm awful at keeping exciting news to myself but I did it. We got to my mom's house and she had done everything in pink and blue, it was such a special surprise! My grandparents were there as well. We got a box with pink balloons inside for them to open. Everyone was so excited to find out we would be having a girl! We told Paul's family the next day at his parent's anniversary party. They were all happy too and the kids loved the balloons!

My family! 

Paul's family! 

 The kids loved the balloons!

Most of all we are beyond thankful to hear that baby Stella is healthy and that my uterine septum in no longer visible (likely squished by baby girl) and no longer a worry for this pregnancy! What a blessing!

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So sorry for the lack of the 20 week update, I have been so busy with my husband going back to school, mom having surgery and throwing my best friend's bachlorette that I never got a chance to do it! I hope to do my 21 week update tomorrow!