18 week update

A number of fun things have happened over the last week. The most exciting is that I started to feel the baby moving around. It is the greatest experience. I first felt the baby last Wednesday (October 1st) and have been feeling it move every day since. It really feels like there is a little person in there now. It doesn't move often but always seems to move when we are driving or when I am riding the train. Pat and I have decided that it must like roadtrips. We also went to the doctor today and he helped us feel the baby's head through my belly! Now we have to stop ourselves from over doing it and smooshing our baby around whenever we feel like trying to find it. Of course, we have already tried it again twice this afternoon. :)

We also have our next ultra sound scheduled! This is the 20 week ultrasound; 20.3 weeks to be precise. We should be able to find out if our little person is a boy or a girl! Only 17 days left! We are quite excited for that date!

The last piece of news is that the baby is now about 7 ounces and 5.5 inches long.

17 week baby update

Just a quick update from babycenter for week 17. Oh yeah, watch out...our baby weighs 5 ounces now!

Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now, and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.

17 weeks and a hike

Pat and I went on an amazing hike this past Sunday. The weather was perfect. It was about 70 out and not a cloud in the sky. It was a 9 mile 6000 total elevation change hike with unbelievable views. Definitely my favorite hike that we have ever been on. I've included some pictures from the hike along with updated belly shots. The second picture down is post hike from the parking lot at the Mt. Baker ski area.

Belly at 14.5 weeks and Bozeman, MT

Here is a quick belly update picture. It is about a week old, so about 14.5 weeks.



Pat and I also just got back from visiting with Jai, Sten, and other wonderful Andersons family and friends in Bozeman, MT and we think that the baby liked it out there. Sadly I did not take any pictures actually in Bozeman, but here are a few from our trip out to the bolder river just a few hours outside of Bozeman. Bozeman is quite beautiful! We enjoyed the sun and the landscape and were sad to enter cloudy Seattle this afternoon.

Second Ultrasound Pictures!

Pat and I just got back from our second ultrasound at 14.5 weeks. It was, again, really amazing. It is crazy how much the baby has grown in a few short weeks since the last ultrasound. The baby is about 3.5in now and looks much more like a little person than a little alien. The baby moved around quite a bit during the ultrasound and we saw him/her kicking, punching, rubbing its eyes, and we think even sucking his thumb (picture include to prove our theory). The bottom three pictures are from a 3D ultrasound and Pat and I think that the pictures look like our baby is being molded out of cheese or something. They are pretty fuzzy and harder to decipher than the first traditional picture.

I am back to the dr. on Friday for my ultrasound follow up appointment with my new OB. Hopefully he will let me off of this one appointment per week schedule.

Made it to the Second Trimester!

I made it to the second trimester! Now, it seems, the baby starts growing much faster. That seems very possible given my desire for FOOOOOD. :) We have another ultrasound scheduled for tomorrow, so more baby pictures to come soon.

From Babycenter:
This week's big developments: Your baby can now squint, frown, grimace, pee, and possibly suck his thumb! Thanks to brain impulses, his facial muscles are getting a workout as his tiny features form one expression after another. His kidneys are producing urine, which he releases into the amniotic fluid around him — a process he'll keep up until birth. He can grasp, too, and if you're having an ultrasound now, you may even catch him sucking his thumb.

In other news: Your baby's stretching out. From head to bottom, he measures 3 1/2 inches and he weighs 1 1/2 ounces. His body's growing faster than his head, which now sits upon a more distinct neck. By the end of this week, his arms will have grown to a length that's in proportion to the rest of his body. (His legs still have some lengthening to do.) He's starting to develop an ultra-fine, downy covering of hair, called lanugo, all over his body. Your baby's liver starts making bile this week — a sign that it's doing its job right — and his spleen starts helping in the production of red blood cells. Though you can't feel his tiny punches and kicks yet, your little pugilist's hands and feet (which now measure about 1/2 inch long) are more flexible and active.

Pregnancy Cravings

I think that I had my first real crazy pregnancy food craving! I never really eat hot dogs or hamburgers. I enjoy meat just not pulverized and reconjealed meat. :) The last two weeks, however, I have desperately wanted a corn dog! Pat thought this was pretty sick and also thought that I shouldn't go buy a nasty corn dog where ever you buy corn dogs. So, to remedy my issue, I came home last night to my awesome husband making me home made corn dogs! It was hilarious and great fun. Here are some photos to prove it.