As promised last weekend, here is the update blog! :) Better late than never, I say! This is my 60th post! How great is that?! I'll try to make it amazing for you...
Things are going well, I'm feeling really good and I'm getting very excited about how close I am to Finn's arrival. The time really does start to fly by after hitting the 20 week mark. I think having that ultrasound when you're halfway really makes worrying about milestones a thing of the past.
Pregnancy (and Trying to Conceive) is really just a very complicated and annoying waiting game. Every month that Arthur and I were trying, I was constantly frustrated with how many things I had to wait for. Waiting for my period to come, waiting for my ovulation date, waiting for my period to come again... so many things! Then, when I was finally pregnant, I had more things to wait for. Waiting for the day we would tell our family, waiting for our first doctor's appointment and hearing the heartbeat. Waiting to find out the sex of the baby, and then waiting to confirm it at the first official ultrasound. Waiting to hear if my baby was generally healthy enough at the 20 week ultrasound, and then waiting for the final countdown to labor and delivery.
Overall, I will say that the hardest part of pregnancy is definitely the first half. Now that I'm almost halfway through the second half, I will say that the second half is so much better.
I think my next entry will probably be more information about my Trying to Conceive story and the things I did to help myself be physically ready to get pregnant. It's not so easy, the way that some people think. Even though I had an easier time than most, I still have a story to tell. Whether or not it can help someone is the question. I will write it regardless, because I feel like having it documented will really help me if I ever want to share it with someone who is also struggling with the same things I did. That will definitely be the next entry.
I also will need to do an entry about my birth plan and the classes Arthur and I have been taking. I remember when I posted a previous entry here about me not knowing what path I was going to take with my pregnancy. I am such a different person now, after going through these classes. I would like to (selectively) share some of the information I've learned in hopes that I can help someone else the way that it has helped me. All I will say for now is that my perspective and perception of the way I want my birth to go is totally different than what I ever expected. I'm looking forward to sharing some of the neat things I've learned.
Pregnancy-wise, things are moving forward well. I've had monthly doctor's appointments since my 20 week ultrasound. I haven't told many people, but I figured it's ok to blog about it now that I'm not as concerned with it. In my 20 week ultrasound, the tech found a cyst sitting behind my cervix. The tech wasn't sure if it is on my ovary or not, but because she couldn't find my right ovary, she assumed that it is there. It's a simple cyst, which means that it's a harmless fluid-filled cyst that can sometimes come with pregnancy. It's supposed to shrink and be gone by the time you get to 20 weeks. It hadn't shrunk enough to assure the tech that it wasn't a concern, because it was 8 centimeters, or the size of a baseball. When I heard her say that, it scared me a bit. But when we talked to the doctor, he reassured me it was ok, and normal.
We got to go back at 24 weeks and will go back again this Friday for 28 weeks to check it again. I say it's a blessing that I've had this simple cyst because I've been able to have more ultrasounds than normal, and getting to see Finn more is always a good thing.
Here are some pictures of Finn at our 24 week ultrasound. You'll see a picture of his profile, his arm and his face. I love the one of his face!
I'll keep everyone updated after this appointment on whether or not the cyst has grown or shrunk. At my last appointment, it was approximately the same size. I'm not worried about it at all, because it causes me no pain or discomfort. :)
Finn-wise, Arthur got me a present for Valentine's Day to get a 4D ultrasound in my 28th week. He and I are going to go sometime this week so we can see Finn's face. I'm really excited for that. In addition to the doctor's ultrasound, I'm pretty sure that it's going to be an amazing week.
I'm feeling movement all of the time now. From the second I wake up to the second I'm falling asleep, Finn is moving around, kicking and getting the hiccups. At first, the kicks were really deliberate, and usually right in my bladder. Don't get me wrong, they have never been annoying... now that they're less rough, I'm appreciating them a lot more. I can usually feel him turning or rolling from the top of my stomach to the bottom. It's pretty cool.
Size-wise, I get a lot of comments from people that I'm not as big as they would expect. Seeing that I'll be 7 months this coming Thursday, most people can't believe that I'm not "popping" yet. I think it's because it's my first pregnancy, I'm a bit taller, and my sister says that it's because we carry boys higher. Regardless, I refuse to worry about how big he is because every ultrasound has proven that he is growing fine and that he looks healthy. My favorite comment yet from the ultrasound tech is that he is one of the most symmetrical babies she's ever seen. Wow! What a compliment! :)
Arthur and I have registered at a couple of different places for our baby shower, at Target and Babies R Us. We have a lot of clothes already and we also have everything we need for the nursery including his crib, his dresser, and my rocker. We want to paint the walls and get some cute decals to decorate with. We are waiting for Mike to move out of his room so we can start getting it ready. Mike moves out the first week in May so it will give us a couple of months to get everything ready. I can't wait! (I will be sad that Mike's leaving, though...) :(
Work is going really well for me, for the most part. Feeling better has helped me feel more productive at work. I have applied for another position, and I'm waiting to hear back about getting a second interview. I do have good days and bad days, like everyone does, but the fact that we got a new building has been a fun mix up of every day. Having to drive back and forth between the new building and the old building has been tough, but I know that it's not for much longer. This will be the 3rd (and final) week that I will have to commute back and forth. Once I can settle in, I think I'll feel a lot more normal.
Every day, I look forward to when I am going to get my time off for Finn's birth. I have my sabbatical that my company gives me, that I've saved up after working for 5 years. I didn't take it in the year I was eligible for it because I wanted to tack it onto the end of my maternity leave. This should give me 16 weeks off, which equals out to be 4 months. This makes me very happy. I am sure I won't want to return to work, but giving myself 4 months to connect with Finn will be good. I would love to be a stay at home mom, but I understand that I have a balance in life that I've chosen. I believe that Arthur is the amazing person he is so I can feel ok with being a working mom. Arthur does so much around the house and works hard at his full time job, so I can't feel like staying home is really the right thing to do for now. Maybe someday, but not today. :)
How far along: 27 Weeks, 3 Days
How much time left: 12 Weeks, 4 Days
Top two symptoms: I had a bit of a foggy headache today, and I get that sometimes. Other than that I guess I can say movement from Finn is a symptom, right? :)
Favorite thing I ate today: I craved chocolate today for the first time in awhile, which was kind of weird. I did make myself some delicious mushroom risotto, which took me almost an hour to make. I got the mix at Trader Joe's, it was absolutely delicious.
Mood: My mood most days is really good lately. Occasionally I have a bad day, but today was a good day. I was really productive and got a lot done. Including this blog... :)
Worried about: Since I started taking my birthing classes, I haven't worried too much about getting ready for Finn's arrival. I'm actually really excited about the process!
Excited for: I'm excited for my baby showers coming up. My team is throwing me one on May 2nd, and then I have one planned with my family in mid-May and then another one at the end of May in Boise with my mom's side. Baby showers! Yay!
Things are going well, I'm feeling really good and I'm getting very excited about how close I am to Finn's arrival. The time really does start to fly by after hitting the 20 week mark. I think having that ultrasound when you're halfway really makes worrying about milestones a thing of the past.
Pregnancy (and Trying to Conceive) is really just a very complicated and annoying waiting game. Every month that Arthur and I were trying, I was constantly frustrated with how many things I had to wait for. Waiting for my period to come, waiting for my ovulation date, waiting for my period to come again... so many things! Then, when I was finally pregnant, I had more things to wait for. Waiting for the day we would tell our family, waiting for our first doctor's appointment and hearing the heartbeat. Waiting to find out the sex of the baby, and then waiting to confirm it at the first official ultrasound. Waiting to hear if my baby was generally healthy enough at the 20 week ultrasound, and then waiting for the final countdown to labor and delivery.
Overall, I will say that the hardest part of pregnancy is definitely the first half. Now that I'm almost halfway through the second half, I will say that the second half is so much better.
I think my next entry will probably be more information about my Trying to Conceive story and the things I did to help myself be physically ready to get pregnant. It's not so easy, the way that some people think. Even though I had an easier time than most, I still have a story to tell. Whether or not it can help someone is the question. I will write it regardless, because I feel like having it documented will really help me if I ever want to share it with someone who is also struggling with the same things I did. That will definitely be the next entry.
I also will need to do an entry about my birth plan and the classes Arthur and I have been taking. I remember when I posted a previous entry here about me not knowing what path I was going to take with my pregnancy. I am such a different person now, after going through these classes. I would like to (selectively) share some of the information I've learned in hopes that I can help someone else the way that it has helped me. All I will say for now is that my perspective and perception of the way I want my birth to go is totally different than what I ever expected. I'm looking forward to sharing some of the neat things I've learned.
Pregnancy-wise, things are moving forward well. I've had monthly doctor's appointments since my 20 week ultrasound. I haven't told many people, but I figured it's ok to blog about it now that I'm not as concerned with it. In my 20 week ultrasound, the tech found a cyst sitting behind my cervix. The tech wasn't sure if it is on my ovary or not, but because she couldn't find my right ovary, she assumed that it is there. It's a simple cyst, which means that it's a harmless fluid-filled cyst that can sometimes come with pregnancy. It's supposed to shrink and be gone by the time you get to 20 weeks. It hadn't shrunk enough to assure the tech that it wasn't a concern, because it was 8 centimeters, or the size of a baseball. When I heard her say that, it scared me a bit. But when we talked to the doctor, he reassured me it was ok, and normal.
We got to go back at 24 weeks and will go back again this Friday for 28 weeks to check it again. I say it's a blessing that I've had this simple cyst because I've been able to have more ultrasounds than normal, and getting to see Finn more is always a good thing.
Here are some pictures of Finn at our 24 week ultrasound. You'll see a picture of his profile, his arm and his face. I love the one of his face!
I'll keep everyone updated after this appointment on whether or not the cyst has grown or shrunk. At my last appointment, it was approximately the same size. I'm not worried about it at all, because it causes me no pain or discomfort. :)
Finn-wise, Arthur got me a present for Valentine's Day to get a 4D ultrasound in my 28th week. He and I are going to go sometime this week so we can see Finn's face. I'm really excited for that. In addition to the doctor's ultrasound, I'm pretty sure that it's going to be an amazing week.
I'm feeling movement all of the time now. From the second I wake up to the second I'm falling asleep, Finn is moving around, kicking and getting the hiccups. At first, the kicks were really deliberate, and usually right in my bladder. Don't get me wrong, they have never been annoying... now that they're less rough, I'm appreciating them a lot more. I can usually feel him turning or rolling from the top of my stomach to the bottom. It's pretty cool.
Size-wise, I get a lot of comments from people that I'm not as big as they would expect. Seeing that I'll be 7 months this coming Thursday, most people can't believe that I'm not "popping" yet. I think it's because it's my first pregnancy, I'm a bit taller, and my sister says that it's because we carry boys higher. Regardless, I refuse to worry about how big he is because every ultrasound has proven that he is growing fine and that he looks healthy. My favorite comment yet from the ultrasound tech is that he is one of the most symmetrical babies she's ever seen. Wow! What a compliment! :)
Arthur and I have registered at a couple of different places for our baby shower, at Target and Babies R Us. We have a lot of clothes already and we also have everything we need for the nursery including his crib, his dresser, and my rocker. We want to paint the walls and get some cute decals to decorate with. We are waiting for Mike to move out of his room so we can start getting it ready. Mike moves out the first week in May so it will give us a couple of months to get everything ready. I can't wait! (I will be sad that Mike's leaving, though...) :(
Work is going really well for me, for the most part. Feeling better has helped me feel more productive at work. I have applied for another position, and I'm waiting to hear back about getting a second interview. I do have good days and bad days, like everyone does, but the fact that we got a new building has been a fun mix up of every day. Having to drive back and forth between the new building and the old building has been tough, but I know that it's not for much longer. This will be the 3rd (and final) week that I will have to commute back and forth. Once I can settle in, I think I'll feel a lot more normal.
Every day, I look forward to when I am going to get my time off for Finn's birth. I have my sabbatical that my company gives me, that I've saved up after working for 5 years. I didn't take it in the year I was eligible for it because I wanted to tack it onto the end of my maternity leave. This should give me 16 weeks off, which equals out to be 4 months. This makes me very happy. I am sure I won't want to return to work, but giving myself 4 months to connect with Finn will be good. I would love to be a stay at home mom, but I understand that I have a balance in life that I've chosen. I believe that Arthur is the amazing person he is so I can feel ok with being a working mom. Arthur does so much around the house and works hard at his full time job, so I can't feel like staying home is really the right thing to do for now. Maybe someday, but not today. :)
How far along: 27 Weeks, 3 Days
How much time left: 12 Weeks, 4 Days
Top two symptoms: I had a bit of a foggy headache today, and I get that sometimes. Other than that I guess I can say movement from Finn is a symptom, right? :)
Favorite thing I ate today: I craved chocolate today for the first time in awhile, which was kind of weird. I did make myself some delicious mushroom risotto, which took me almost an hour to make. I got the mix at Trader Joe's, it was absolutely delicious.
Mood: My mood most days is really good lately. Occasionally I have a bad day, but today was a good day. I was really productive and got a lot done. Including this blog... :)
Worried about: Since I started taking my birthing classes, I haven't worried too much about getting ready for Finn's arrival. I'm actually really excited about the process!
Excited for: I'm excited for my baby showers coming up. My team is throwing me one on May 2nd, and then I have one planned with my family in mid-May and then another one at the end of May in Boise with my mom's side. Baby showers! Yay!
wow he looks like he is getting big! Do you feel like its "real" yet?
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