19 Weeks and Counting

Well, I have reached the 19 weeks mark and so far I'm loving it!!  Guess what my nausea and morning sickness seem to have poof and disappeared!! (Knocking on wood).  Yay, bring on the food people.  I've never been so happy to be able to drink a soda again in my life.  I'm telling you when you get pregnant you learn to appreciate the simple things in life for real.

I'm noticing that my energy is slowly draining away.  I'm getting more and more out of breath just doing simple stuff like going down steps or doing the laundry.  Not to mention, I still have to chase after Moo when we're not at Grandma's or when the hubby is at work.  She's a busy toddler who could care less that Mommy is preggers.  All she knows is that there's a ball of energy inside that she just has to let out. LOL.

At my doctor's appointment this week we got our first ultrasound!!  I was beyond anxious to see what was going on in there.  We got to hear the baby's heartbeat.  It was really strong and I have to admit that I cried a little.  It's always emotional when you hear your baby's heartbeat because you never know what can happen.

After the ultrasound, I met with Dr. Zerkle.  He was very warm and has a likable personality.  I could tell that he really enjoys his job and loves making connections with his patients.  One of my biggest fears about choosing a OB/GYN practice was having a gender mixed staff.  However, it wasn't so weird or awkward having a male OB/GYN down there.

In fact, he had one of the female nurses come in the room and assist with my pelvic exam.  And since I knew what to expect, I was a lot more relaxed this time around.  It was also surprisingly quicker than the ones I had when I was pregnant with Moo.  I'm just totally falling in love with the people at the Bradford Clinic!!  I will certainly be recommending them to my friends.

All my blood work from my last checkup came back good except for that fact that my iron level was way low.  No shocker over here though.  I've been anemic since I came out of the womb.  I've been on a different variety of iron pills and nothing has really worked well enough to keep it up.  So, I had to get more blood taken so that they could better access how serious my anemia really is.

While I wait for the results, here's what's going on with my bundle of joy.  At 19 weeks, my little baby is about 8.5 ounces and 6 inches in length.  That's about the size of an heirloom tomato.  So, now my baby weighs same amount as my cup of water.  A little scary once you think about how fragile that is.  Grow baby grow, but not to much.

In the ultrasound, I could see that the toes and fingers were developed.  I got see the brain and how small it was.  When I was pregnant with Moo they didn't point that out to me.  The brain is now designating areas to allow the baby to hear, smell, taste, touch and see.  So, now is a great starting point to start reading aloud and playing music to my tummy. There is plenty of amniotic fluid in there. 

The scalp is just beginning to get covered in hair.  Since Moo had a full head of hair, I'm hoping that baby number two will have some as well.  I know that means I need to stock up on my Tums.  Hair causes heartburn and I had plenty of it with my busy bee.  It hasn't started yet, but I'm going to be well prepared for when it does.

Still no swelling or cankles.  Thank goodness.  I've been making sure to keep my feet and drink plenty of water.  This cooler weather probably has something do with it too.  I'm hoping to avoid swelling as much as possible.

Well, we did find out the sex of the baby.  So, you will have to stay tuned to my next post coming up later on tonight to see what I'm having.  Meanwhile, cast your vote below in the comments section.

Do you think baby numero dos is a boy or girl?