Pregnancy Journal: 17 Weeks

Picture taken at 16 1/2 weeks

This pregnancy is really moving along! I feel like the weeks are just flying by. Even when I was miserable I felt that way, but now that I am feeling so much better it feels like it is going even faster! Don't you love the baby head right near the counter in my picture? :) A few seconds before this you could see him in the background, naked except for his diaper, playing with the blinds. Yeah. Didn't want that picture going on Facebook.

There really isn't much to report, except for the fact that I am feeling better. I pretty much feel like my normal self, except a little more squishy (not really a baby belly yet). I am still really sensitive to smells, so I have been going crazy trying to clean everything when I get a chance because if I can smell it I can't stand it! Case in point: I noticed while driving today that I need to wash James' car seat cover ASAP. I started to feel the baby move for the first time sometime last week and I have been surprised at how different it has been from when I was pregnant with James! With James, I can still vividly remember the first time I felt him move (at around 16 weeks), it was so forceful and felt like a solid kick, definitely not butterflies or fluttering. This time it was so soft, like a tiny nudge, that I wasn't sure what it was for a few days. Even now, I don't feel like I am feeling the baby move nearly as much as I did with James. I'm not sure why. Either this baby is more mellow (which would be awesome!), or maybe it is because I typically wear more comfortable and looser clothes than the work clothes I wore with James. Maybe wearing tighter clothes makes it easier to feel the baby kick or something? It's a mystery!

Last week we had our 16 week appointment with the midwife. It was nothing special, just a quick listen to the baby's heartbeat and that was about it. I forgot to ask her what the actual heart rate was since I am compiling all of the old wives tales about determining what gender your baby and seeing what they predict so that I can compare it to what the ultrasound says. One of them says that how fast or slow the baby's heart rate is is supposed to predict the gender. Our next appointment is going to be the big one! The day after memorial day we have our ultrasound appointment and will hopefully get to find out if we are having a boy or a girl. We are planning on having them not tell us right away and put the gender result in an envelope so we can open it up with my mom and Anthony's parents that night. That way we can all find out together! I seriously can't wait for this appointment, I am ready to find out!