*16 weeks*
Today marks 16 weeks of pregnancy. It's hard to believe it's been so long already. It was 14 weeks ago today that I had my egg retrieval and they (whoever "they" are - maybe the embryologist?) fertilized my eggs. Well, EGG, since we only got one good one. But as they say, it only takes one!
I don't think I ever commented on the fact that my sister had surgery almost two weeks ago now. She had her gall bladder removed (it's the cool thing to do), and she's now recovering nicely, and enjoys showing off her "belly button butt". I think she's glad to be feeling better again and to be free to resume eating anything she wants!
As for me, I've been sick for the past week and a half, and it SUCKS! The second trimester is supposed to be a breeze, yet I feel like my head is going to explode! We went up to Michigan for Katie's birthday two weekends ago (April 12-13), and on the way to the hotel the night of the 12th, my throat started getting really sore. I've been dealing with "rhinitis of pregnancy", or pregnancy induced congestion for weeks, and I suspect it will continue to ail me in the coming weeks. But anyways, I think because of the congestion, I was sleeping with my mouth open, thus the sore throat. So for about four days, I was SUPER congested and had a terribly sore throat, and then around Wednesday last week, the cough started. Thursday night it kept both me and Ben up all night, so Friday I called the clinic just to be safe. The doc examined me and basically said it all adds up to congestion and a nasty post-nasal drip. (Sorry TMI) She gave me a prescription in case it turned into a sinus infection, but advised I try taking Benadryl to dry it up. I think the Benadryl, in conjunction with Vitamin C, is helping, but the cough is still there and still *very* annoying.
Changing the subject, baby can hear now. Not the outside world so much, but my heartbeat, my stomach, etc. I think that's pretty rad. I wonder why it is we can't remember being in utero? Is birth really *that* traumatic. Anyways, even though baby can't hear my voice yet, I talk to it all the time. So no more "Crazy Mindy's talking to herself again" (as I've been known to do) - now I'm talking to my baby. ;)
Baby also will start making movements soon for me to feel. My friend Kari said she felt her son move for the first time at 16 weeks. For the past week, I've been willing baby to move. I concentrate on my tummy so hard, I think I've started imagining things. I think I feel something, and then my stomach gurgles or it's just gas. Everyone I've talked to and everything I've read says you'll know when you feel it, and describes the movement as fluttery, sort of like butterflies in your stomach... we'll see!
Last weekend, Julie and I went on a mission. Well, there was really no purpose of the mission, other than to look at baby stuff. I've made wishlists on a variety of websites, so you may put my name in someplace and something might pop up, but PLEASE don't buy anything yet. I need to narrow down what I actually want and *officially* register (sooner than later, indeed). But anyways, I initially fell in love with furniture at Pottery Barn Kids, but over the weekend I found some stuff I really like at the Land of Nod, which is the Crate & Barrel kids store. It's equally nice compared to PBK, but the price is a bit less. We also comparison shopped at Babies R Us, and I was not impressed in the quality (no offense to anyone who's furniture is from BRU). I am just a firm believer in "you get what you pay for", and good furniture is something that is worth spending money on.
When we were at Pottery Barn Kids, I made a purchase. I found this little guy the first time we went there, and I fell in love.
Click on image to enlarge He's called Sleep Sheep. I call him Toby Sheep because he a little bit reminds me of Toby as a baby... they kind of have a similar profile. What do you think?
Click on image to enlarge Anyways, Sleep Sheep is a SUPER soft little guy who has a sound box built in that produced four different nature sounds, and he attaches right onto the crib. Ben thinks he's a little Teddy Ruxpin-esque, referring to the roommate I had in college who slept with her faceless (yes, faceless) Teddy Ruxpin every night. To that I say, WHATEVER! Unlike Teddy Ruxpin's cassette player, Toby Sheep's sound box is REMOVABLE, so if he becomes baby's comfort toy, so be it. Here's more about Sleep Sheep:
http://www.sleepsheepandfriends.com/sheep.htmlI'm hoping to post belly pictures soon. To me, they only look a teeny bit different from week 7 when we started taking photos until now, so I'm sure they won't look at all different to anyone else... I do promise though to get them up here very soon.
