We had our ultrasound on Wednesday and we were shocked to find out we're definitely having a boy! We got some sweet shots of his little face and feet, and a few good 3D images as well. My favorite sonographer from my old clinic ended up calling us back and I was thrilled. I knew that if anything was remotely off, she'd find it, which gave me some peace of mind going in.
Honestly, it was such a monumental and emotional moment for us that it's going to take some time to process it, but it was so fun to share that surreal, emotional moment with Ross. We love having a pronoun to use now, instead of saying "he/she," "it," or "the baby" all the time. It seems much more real, yet it's still incredibly hard to believe that there's a legit baby folded up and chilling out in there. He's changed so much since our 12 week sono!
The ultrasound also confirmed my suspicion that I have an anterior placenta, meaning there's a nice big cushion between my abdominal wall and the baby, which keeps me from feeling a ton of movement. I feel more movement every day, but it's still around the edges of my belly more than in the middle.
After the sono appointment we went to Pottery Barn Kids with a little bit of store credit we had and things really became more real when, instead of wandering the whole store imagining things, we knew we had to stick to the boy side. We're having a baby boy!!!
Afterwards, we celebrated with a serendipitously-planned dinner at Capital Grille for restaurant week! It was a really fun way to mark the occasion, and the Caesar salad, mashed potatoes, and flourless chocolate cake totally hit the spot. (It was one of the few times in my life I really craved a glass of red wine. I did not partake that night, but I think I will next time!)
The night before our ultrasound we decided to look at old wives tales just for kicks. Of course, all of these have a 50/50 chance of being right. We were kind of convinced it was a girl going into this week, but when the majority of the old wives tales pointed to boy, we started to realize hey- that's still a possibility. Of course, there's no doubt in our minds now that he's a boy!
Here are a few of the less ridiculous old wives' tales, and our corresponding answers:
-If you're carrying high and round, it's a girl. If you're carrying low and pointy, it's a boy. (BOY)
-If baby's heart rate is above 140 it's a girl, if it's below 140 it's a boy. (GIRL)
-If your hair becomes thinner, it's a girl. If it becomes thicker, it's a boy. (BOY)
-If you're craving sweets, it's a girl. If you're craving salty or sour foods, it's a boy. (BOY)
-If you have morning sickness, it's a girl. If you don't, it's a boy. (UNDECIDED. I definitely had nausea, but I never threw up.)
-If you break out more, it's a girl. If you don't, it's a boy. (GIRL)
-The Chinese Gender Predictor lets your plug in a few calendar dates and predicts what you'll have. (BOY)
-Mayans supposedly determined a baby's sex by looking at the mother's age at conception and the year of conception. If both are even or odd, it's a girl. If one's even and one's odd, it's a boy. (BOY)
-If Dad gains sympathy weight, it's a girl. If his weight stays the same, it's a boy. (BOY)
-If you're moody, you're having a girl. If you're happy, you're having a boy. (GIRL)
-If your legs stay the same size during pregnancy, it's a girl. If they get bigger, it's a boy. (BOY)
-If you have a dream about having a girl, you'll have a boy. And vice versa. (BOY)
-If you're graceful, it's a girl. If you're more clumsy, it's a boy. (BOY)
-If you can only agree on a name for a boy or a girl, you're having the gender you agree on a name for. (GIRL)
Pregnancy-wise, it's incredibly hard to believe we're halfway there! Simultaneously terrifying and exciting. I don't feel terribly pregnant yet, although "20 weeks" sounds much more legit than "19 weeks," and the belly is almost big enough for maternity shirts to look non-ridiculous on me (I've been layering long tanks from Target under my normal tops and it's worked well so far. Maternity jeans have been necessary for weeks, though).
Time is just flying by with the amount I've been working lately, and that makes me a little sad. I feel like my mind hasn't had time to catch up with the baby's gestational age. But then again, it might not catch up until I'm holding a brand new baby in my arms that belongs to me, for once?
Really my only symptoms this week have been out-of-control emotions and fatigue, which really might be two sides of the same coin. Both of these get worse every week, and also correspond with the number of night shifts I've worked that week... But also, I'm TIRED. More than night shift tired, which I didn't think was possible. It doesn't help that I toss and turn after about 3am and I can't seem to feel rested.
When I had my doctor draw my labs a few weeks ago, it turned out that I had grown anemic already. I'm very glad I asked her to check, because they otherwise wouldn't have drawn labs again until 28 weeks and who knows how low my H/H would've been then! It was a relief to have a diagnosis (I'm not crazy! I'm tired because my hematocrit dropped 10 points in a 10 week time span!) but also a frustration (My numbers were so good in the first trimester. I eat meat 1-2 times a day, and we cook red meat 1-2 times a week. I take my prenatal vitamins. What gives?).
Two weeks ago, I started taking Floradix in the morning with a small glass of orange juice about 10 minutes before breakfast. About a week ago, I was starting to notice a big increase in my energy and endurance levels, but they've fallen again. I'm going to be asking my OB several questions about all this at my appointment this week.
And emotions. Where to begin? I can see objectively that I'm overreacting to everything, but I can't seem to not feel overwhelmed by things like tax returns (someday I will just have one W-2 in one state) and finding childcare and finding a house and renewing my RNC-NIC certification and applying for mortgages and... everything. I can't seem to be rational, and everything makes me want to dissolve into tears. Poor Ross. I'm having a hard time dealing with daily life right now and he's been good about picking up the slack.
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| (I feel like when I cry, it's for reasons more legit than this, but "tragedy-maker" is a good description!) |
No real cravings this week, just eating more carbs and sugar than I'm really hungry for, simply because I'm tired. I am also starting to notice that my normal meals and snacks just don't keep me as full as they used to. I'm wondering if we're entering another growth spurt with the uptick in emotions, fatigue, and hunger. I seem to gain weight in huge overnight leaps, and then stay steady for a while. So far the leaps have occurred at 7 weeks, 14 weeks, 16 weeks, and 18 weeks, so I'm definitely due for another one. Baby boy was already an estimated 14oz at our ultrasound, and he's supposedly as long as a medium banana, so surely the belly will pop any day now...
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