23 weeks, 120 more days to go (give or take a few). I don’t have any really fun new photos this week so I thought it might be good to put a photo from one of the pregnancy websites I read.

Baby Size: CLL is about 11.5 inches long and a full pound at least! Food comparison this week is a large mango.

Fun Facts: CLL now has a clear sense of movement-aka I’d better get interested in some dancing or at least some serious moving around! The baby can now hear loud noises. S/he will likely already be used to dogs barking since I’m at the dog run almost every day and will hopefully hear the music I’ve been playing while I work during the day. In last weeks post I wrote about how I was starting to notice my belly actually moving when the baby was kicking/moving and sure enough this is about the time that I would be able to see some movements. I was actually feeling some pretty clear kicks (I think) and so I started poking around where I was feeling and the baby would kick back! It was almost as if I was interacting with him/her already. It was funny.

How I’m Feeling:Luckily I am still feeling great for the most part. The only new symptom I have been having is what I think is round ligament pain. It’s been happening around mid-morning for the past few days and a lot of times when I find myself headed to the gym and then into a good portion of my workout.The round ligaments are what surround your uterus in your pelvis. As my uterus grows during pregnancy, the ligaments will stretch and thicken to accommodate and support it. From what I’ve read, the pain should be short lasting but lately I’ve been feeling them off and on for about 15/20 minutes and then slightly achy after for a while. I am going to keep an eye on it and definitely talk to my doctor about it at my next appointment.

I have been trying to keep on top of my baby reading, although I did take a short break to read the 50 Shades trilogy. I’m back on baby books now and I thought I’d share what books I’ve been reading and some that are on my list to read.

The Girlfriends Guide to Pregnancy was given to me by my friend Caitlyn and I had also bought it for myself. It was a quick and easy read. It was the first book I read when I found out I was pregnant and I found it to be a gentle introduction to pregnancy without being too technical or scary. I highly recommend it!

Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth has been a very informative read. Although it is a bit one-sided in its views, I have found it to be inspirational. M and I are hoping for a natural birth and reading the stories in the book have given me faith that I too will be able to attempt what my body was made to do.

The Natural Hospital Birth has been very helpful to me in planning our own hospital birth. It gives great tips on the process of planning to have a natural birth at a hospital. The book even gives sample birth plans, which I used to help create my birth wish list.

The Happiest Baby on the Block was given to me by a friend and I’m so excited to read it. I’ve heard amazing things and I will definitely report back after I’ve finished it. There is also a DVD to go with it, which I will watch with Mach.

I am making my way through The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding but not quite finished. I want to read it to closer to the birth so I can have the tips fresh on my mind for when the baby arrives. It’s a big book with lots of great tips, advice and recommendations for breast-feeding. I have heard stories about woman having a very difficult time with it and other stories that the baby has latched on right away and it was a breeze. I want to be prepared either way!

This past weekend Mach and I spent Friday night with some yummy takeout food and a movie. The movie was The Business of Being Born. I had heard amazing things about it and it truly was eye-opening in a lot of ways. Mach and I have already made a decision about our path for labor and delivery and we know things can change at any time due tounforeseencircumstances, but this movie just solidified our decision to try to have as natural a birth for our baby as possible. I’d encourage everyone to watch this movie no matter what kind of birth you’ve had/are planning to have. It’s just an interesting documentary about the business behind it all.

I can’t believe I am 5 1/2 months today! A few more weeks and I will be headed straight into the third trimester.

Baby Size: The baby is about 11″ long and almost a full pound in weight! The fruit comparison this week is a papaya.

Fun Facts: The baby will be growing more fat each week and now looks like an actual baby (just a really small baby). The baby’s eyes and lips are more defined. CLL is now sleeping in cycles of about 12-14 hours at a time.

How I’m Feeling: I’m feeling good this week-though slightly large 🙂 My growing belly seems to be getting larger and larger, which is good news but also scary! I want to gain weight at a healthy pace and it seems to have come on slightly strong these past two weeks. I have to watch my portions and continue my regular gym visits.

CLL has continued to kick up a storm. This week I’ve noticed that when I’m sitting and he/she is kicking I can actually see my stomach moving! If the kicks are this strong now, I’m slightly nervous as to how they are going to be when the baby gets bigger!

My back aches are becoming more frequent but thanks to prenatal yoga and some back massages from Mach they aren’t too too bad-at least for now.

We met with a doulalast week and after some consideration have hired her! It feels good to have that lined up. One less thing on the to-do list! She’s great and has attended over 400 births over the past 10 years. I have no doubt we will be in great hands.

This past weekend Mach and I spent some time adding some details into the nursery. We won’t be getting a crib right away-partly because of space restrictions and partly because the baby will be co-sleeping with us in our bedroom in abassinetfor the first several months. So, the nursery mostly consists of a bed, a changing table and a closet for baby clothes and extras! We still want it to feel special so we put up some birch tree appliques on the painted gray wall. We are sticking with a fairly basic color scheme of yellow, gray and white.

This past week has been very busy. I traveled to Ireland last Thursday and arrived home Tuesday night. Although I had been a bit anxious about traveling such a distance for such a short amount of time, it went down without a hitch and made me feel better about making the trip in 2 months. I had to wear compression socks and I was advised to walk around a lot during the flight. My doctor was very comfortable with me traveling but just wanted me to take extra precautions during the flight to protect against blood clots. I have a feeling the flight will feel a lot different in July when I am almost in my 3rd trimester!

Baby Size: CLL is about 10.5″ long and weighs about 12.7 ounces. The fruit comparison is a pomegranate!

Fun Facts: If it’s a girl, she’s already produced over 6 million eggs in her womb!

How I’m Feeling: I’m feeling pretty good. No major complaints here. I still have back pain that comes and goes. It really all depends on where I am sitting or how long I’m standing. I feel like this past week has marked a pretty big change in my body. I definitely look more pregnant now and I feel like my growing belly is contributing to my back pain. The baby is also kicking/moving up a storm. I definitely never expected to feel the baby move as much as I do this early. My sister Jess was able to feel the baby move too! It’s exciting to share that with your close family and friends. Whether CLL is a boy or a girl-it’s coming out kicking for sure!

Our scanner isn’t working at the moment so the pictures from the appointment last week are a bit weak. I had to take them with my cell phone so please forgive the quality. I think the tech took certain photos to make sure not to show any angles for those of you TRYING to determine the gender. CLL is all curled up in most of them 🙂

This week’s post is going to be short and sweet as I have been extremely busy with work and I’m off to Ireland tomorrow for the final visit before Jess & Brian’s Wedding in July. The trip will be quick and packed with meetings and such.

Today marks the 20th week! I can’t believe we’re halfway through already. We had our 20 week appointment with our doctor as well as our anatomy scan. We got to see the baby moving all around and each little body part got measured. Everything looked perfect and healthy (thank goodness)! Although we don’t know the gender and don’t want to know it until he/she arrives, Mach thinks he saw something 🙂 Who knows what it is he saw but as long as our baby is healthy, I will be thrilled. We have some new photos but I’m not at computer at home so those photos will have to wait until next week!

Baby Size: About 10″ long, head to heel & about 10 1/2 ounces. The fruit comparison is a small cantaloupe.

Fun Facts: The baby is swallowing more and also beginning to produce meconium, a by-product of digestion, which we will see in the baby’s first few diapers.

How I’m Feeling: Other than some annoying lower back pain, I’m feeling physically good! I’m adjusting to the growing baby inside me and the growing bump on my lower abdomen. I’m looking forward to warmer weather when a sundress is all I need to worry about wearing! The baby is kicking more and more and I’m starting to notice patterns and certain times of day when it happens the most. I am almost always guaranteed a few kicks after I eat and definitely more in the evening when I’m relaxing.

That’s it for now, I promise to post a lot more when I get back next week!

Baby Size: CLL is about 6″ long and weighing about 8.5 ounces! The fruit comparison is a mango.

Fun Facts: This week CLL is working on developing the 5 senses. CLL can most likely hear us at this point so I am trying to get into a habit of playing music while I work! Nerve cells for his/her sense of taste, hearing, sight and smell are developing in his/her brain. In addition, CLL is now able to make more intricate facial expressions, such as frowning or smiling.

How I’m Feeling: I’m feeling good! Tired and sore from the move but other than some back pain, I feel great! I’ve been feeling the baby move/kick a bunch! Now that I know what it is I can tell immediately when it’s happening. I feel it most when I am sitting at the computer working or relaxing on the couch at night. Mach was able to feel the baby kick for the first time last night! I was laying down in bed and I felt a pretty hard kick/punch that I was able to feel from the outside. I called him in and after a solid amount of time waiting, it happened again! He was surprised and excited! It was nice to finally be able to share what I’ve been feeling for the past week or so.

This past weekend was Mother’s Day and although I am not technically a Mother YET, M surprised me with a present and the sweetest card ever. I thought I was going to cry from the card alone-I was just so surprised that he would think to get me a gift. It was a great pick me up in the midst of packing craziness!

It was a beautiful top from Calypso.

The big thing that happened this week has been our move. We only moved down one floor in our current apartment building, but it still felt overwhelming and a lot of work. We still had to pack everything up as if we were moving to another location. We weren’t able to get into the new apartment to paint CLL’s room as early as we expected so we ended up painting after Mach got out of class on Monday night (around 10pm). It was quite a sight. We were both over tired and silly. Here are some pictures! We chose this lighter gray color called Moonshine. It’s hard to tell in the photos. I promise to take more of the apartment and CLL’s room once it’s complete.

Sophie kept watch of our painting as we worked!

Tired but finished! (this was around 11:45pm, FYI)

Soph and I snuck into the new closet to check it out…

Our 20 Week anatomy appointment is next week, so hopefully I will have some great photos to share in the next post!

I can’t believe I am already 18 weeks. Although time is flying by-some weeks it slows a bit and I’m thankful for that. M and I have a lot to do these next few weeks and we need all the extra time we can get!

Baby Size: CLL is now about 5.6″ long and 6.7 ounces in weight. The fruit comparison for this week is a sweet potato!

Fun Facts: CLL is now yawning, hiccuping, swallowing & sucking! CLL is also growing rapidly, which might account for a spike in hunger.

How I’m Feeling: Lately my back aches have been more frequent. I can’t seem to find a way to sit/stand/lay that’s super comfortable. I think I need to stretch more and possibly even explore the option of acupuncture if it doesn’t subside? Maybe a prenatal massage too 🙂

The exciting news for this week is that I felt the baby move. Well, I think I’ve been feeling the baby move for a couple of days now but it was really just yesterday that it really hit me that the feelings I am having are repetitive! I can’t believe it, really. I kept expecting the feelings to be like butterflies or so subtle that I wouldn’t feel them. They just feel like a tiny thing moving inside me. I haven’t really noticed when they happen most-but I know I don’t feel them when I am moving about. Actually, I felt a few while writing this post. They come and go. M is excited for them to get stronger so he can feel them too.

I definitely feel like my tummy is getting bigger-not necessarily to other people quite yet but definitely to me. It was especially apparent when trying on clothes this past week. My Mom and I went dress shopping. I have a wedding coming up in a few weeks and it’s back tie (eeek!) There aren’t many black tie options out there for preggers woman who’d like to try to look somewhat presentable. I’ve ordered a dress and am waiting for it to arrive. I just don’t fit into normal clothes but my baby bump isn’t cute enough for those tight dresses that show off the bump.

In other news, Mach and I are moving next Tuesday! We were lucky enough to get an apartment in our same building so we don’t have far to go. We still have to pack, which will be this weekends activity. The plan for Saturday is to paint one of the walls in the baby’s room. Although we plan to co-sleep for the first 3ish months and we don’t even plan to get a crib right away, we want it to feel like a nursery. Photos to come next week of our adventure painting and packing!

We had tickets to the Yankees game last night and the rain held out beautifully for us to enjoy the evening. Our friend Matt joined us and we had a lovely evening. I wish they had more veggie friendly/healthy snacks at stadiums-but the boys enjoyed their Lobels sandwiches and beers. I made some late night Whole Wheat Annies Mac and Cheese. Probably not the smartest to eat at 11pm but I was so hungry and SO tired!

A lot has happened this past week-all exciting, though somewhat overwhelming at the same time.

Today marks the 17th week…here’s what’s happening now:

Baby Size:The baby is about 5.1″ long and weighs about 5.9 ounces. Fruit size is about an onion.

Fun Facts: This week the baby is not only growing in length but getting thicker and beginning to grow more fat. The rubbery cartilage is now changing over to bone and the umbilical cord is getting thicker as well.

How I’m Feeling: I am feeling much better this week! Eating more normally now and getting back to my normal exercise. I’ve gained a solid 9lbs, which apparently is totally normal (although I am not quite sure what normal is these days)! My lower back has been giving me some aches but I think it’s just a matter of finding better sleeping positions at night. The snoogle is back in the bed (smothering Mach) but making me much happier 🙂

Mach and I spent Saturday morning registering at Giggle here in NYC. We had an amazing Sales rep at the Giggle Soho store who took us through everything bit by bit. I’m not sure we would have made it out alive without her! For now we are just registering at Giggle and Amazon. We love all the bigger items at Giggle and having Amazon allows us those additional items that our amazing friends have recommended, plus lots of clothes! I’m not sure M and I really grasped how much stuff a baby needs until we went and registered! Wowza.

Check out this adorable onesie we got from our friends Matt & Sam this past weekend. I am thinking this is more perfect for Mach than anyone else 🙂

I think the gift inspired us because we both wanted Shake Shack on Sunday. We took Soph and walked down to Battery Park City to indulge! Even Soph got a treat (poochini)!

I don’t eat meat so I had the ‘Shroom burger (Portobello stuffed with cheese and fried) on a bun with all the fixins. Right now our plan is for the baby to be vegetarian as well-at least until CLL is old enough to make the choice on their own.

This week was the first week of prenatal yoga. I loved it! I went to Prenatal Yoga NYCand had a great first class. It was just nice to be in a place with other people like me! Most of the ladies are further along than I am but it was great to see everyone still being active later in their pregnancies. The center is such a great resource as well, for doula recommendations, birthing classes, etc…I am going to try to go once a week throughout the remainder of my pregnancy.

Another plus of going to Prenatal Yoga NYC is that I get to go to the Upper West Side where I can sneak some face time with one of my dear friends, Chelsea. We grabbed a lemonade together after class and she surprised me with these bamboo swaddles by Aden & Anais! I LOVE Aden and Anais-not only do they make the softest blankets and swaddles but they’re so multipurpose. They can be used as nursing covers, burp cloths, portable crib sheets, liners for car seats and strollers, tummy time blankets, etc…the list goes on and on. M and I had actually registered for them and so I got to remove them from the list already! CLL is already getting royally spoiled by all our amazing friends!

As promised-here is the video from our last doctor’s appointment when we heard CLL’s heartbeat. Enjoy!

[vimeo 41467437 w=600 h=337]

Today marks the beginning of the 16th Week. I can’t even believe it’s been 4 months! 5 months is right around the corner and that always seems like such a big deal in pregnant people world!

Baby Size: about 4.6″ long and weighs about 3.5 ounces (about the size of an avocado)

Fun facts: Around this time, hair (including lashes and eyebrows) are growing, the baby can begin to hear voices as tiny bones are forming in the ears, taste buds are beginning to form.

How I’m feeling: This week has been a little tricky to tell since I was so busy running around and then sick with the stomach bug. Thank goodness that has seemed to pass for the most part! My back has been aching quite a bit, but again not sure if that’s the pregnancy or the bug. My plan was to start prenatal yoga classes this week but I decided next week might be better once I am 100%. I plan to take it easy at the gym over the next day or so with some mild walking on the treadmill or elliptical exercise.

M and I had a Doctors appointment this past Monday morning. I had a routine follow-up blood test to the NT scan a few weeks ago. Our Dr. said the test results came back as best can be, which made us breathe a sigh of relief. We were also able to hear the baby’s heartbeat. We had heard it before from an internal ultrasound but this time it was from the ultrasound outside the belly! It felt great to hear it. M took a video but hasn’t had a chance to pull it off his fancy camera yet for me to use.

I have been trying to be more aware of feeling anything new in my little bump. This is really the earliest I’d probably be able to feel the baby. I don’t think I have felt the baby yet. I am SO excited for when the day comes and I KNOW it’s the baby and not just little gas bubbles. They say it’s more likely that a first time Mom will feel it around the 18 week mark.

M and I are going to begin the process of registering this weekend. We are headed to Giggle on Saturday to check it all out. Exciting!

I had the most fabulous weekend after arriving home from our babymoon-it was my Sister Jessica’s Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Weekend! We hosted the Bridal Shower in CT and then myself and 7 of her friends came back to NYC where we stayed at the Empire Hotel, had a fun dinner at Beauty and Essex, brunch at Peels & due to the inclement weather ended up not being able to do trapeze school and ended up painting pottery at Make Meaning. It ended up being perfect since a few of the girls might not have made it through hanging upside down and doing flips.

That being said-I think between the traveling and the busy weekend (with little sleep) I ran myself into the ground and am now sick with a stomach bug! It’s miserable. Normally, stomach bugs really do stink big time-but it stinks even more because I am worried about CLL! I can barely eat or drink anything and the most important thing is staying hydrated! So, my feet are up, laptop is out and I am resting, sleeping and sipping ginger ale and anything else I can stomach at this point!

So, I thought I would take time to post some of Mach’s photos from our Babymoon & one of two from Jess’s Shower too 🙂

Bridal Shower!

 

Today marks the 15th week! I think this week has gone by the fastest so far, mostly due to the fact that we were gone for all of it. We just arrived back from our “babymoon” last night. As I mentioned in the last post we traveled to St. John for 3 days and St. Thomas for 3 days. We had an amazing time together. Although we will travel a couple more times before the baby arrives, this was a trip that was about just the two of us taking time to relax and enjoy the sun and water!

Before I get into any details on the trip itself, here is what’s happening with CLL this week!

Size: 4″ (about the size of a naval orange)

Weight: 2.5 oz

How I’m feeling: Right now a little tired from the trip home, but otherwise great! Eating on the islands were tough (M and I had to ask lots of questions about the seafood everywhere as there were few vegetarian options) and I’m still not yet craving my usual veggies but most nausea is gone! Feeling less tired and more energized too! The one thing I did realize while I was away is that I can no longer lay flat on my back on a hard surface. We tried going to a couple remote beaches on St. John and without a beach chair I was extremely uncomfortable. My back felt like it was breaking!

Body Changes: I can’t say there are too many physical changes that are noticeable yet! I’ve definitely gained a solid 7-9lbs (eeek!) but I only notice my baby bump when I’m lying down. It definitely sticks out. When I am standing, it’s harder to tell. It was so nice to wear sundresses for a week and not worry about tight jeans/pants!

M is the photographer in the family and since we just arrived back last night he hasn’t had a chance to upload any of his photos yet. In the meantime, here are some photos from the trip from our iPhones.

 

We are headed to CT this weekend as I am hosting my little sister, Jessica’s Bridal Shower & Bachelorette Festivities! I could not be more excited. I mean…how beautiful of a bride will she be?!?!