The Bump

I know I haven't been as good about updating my "Bump" photos as I should, but I have been trying to be better. I've done two Saturday's in a row now! Last Saturday's isn't up though, I couldn't face it. Today I was feeling good, though. I got up, weighed myself, and the scale was cooperating. I know I'm going to put on weight, I'm not being delusional. However, for someone who has worried about their weight everyday, and struggled with it for years, it's hard to sit back and watch it pile on. I'm trying to be good and reasonable in what I eat and I would really love to stay in my weight gain range. So when I stepped on this morning and it was a solid 10lbs (exactly) since I got pregnant, that felt good. Not bad for almost 6 months. I went out and took my picture and here it is!

My other fun today - I got to WATCH my belly move! I was sitting on the couch with my feet up and the baby really started rolling and kicking. I could sort of see it, but my breathing was camouflaging part of it. I set the remote on my belly and WOW could you see it! It almost got kicked off a few times. That was so much fun!

Oh! I finally ordered some maternity pants last night. It's overdue, really. I haven't been able to zip up my Levi's for a few weeks now. I can zip them about an inch or so as long as I'm up and walking around, but the minute I sit or try to tie my sneakers while wearing my jeans, you start hearing the zipper give way. Yoga pants are good, Yoga pants are my friend (and my scrub bottoms, too.)

20 Weeks and Counting

We had our 20 week appointment today which was attended by my Mom and Tom made it, too. This would have been the BIG appointment where we could have found out if Peanut is a Girl Nut or a Boy Nut. Of course Mom thinks we're just plain nuts for not finding out. There are so few surprises in life! There are already boy and girl grandchildren on both sides of the family, we aren't decorating a nursery, and actually it works out pretty well because everything we buy right now is gender neutral, so it doesn't matter what this Peanut is or what the next Peanut is, it will all work! It's really fun to keep guessing, too. Tom has felt pretty sure since early on that we're having a girl. I wasn't sure at first, and my first couple baby dreams were of a girl, but now I just feel more and more strongly that Peanut is a boy. With all the trouble we're having picking out names, Tom suggested that he make a list of 10 girl names and I make a list of 10 boy names and we pick off each others lists. As cute an idea as that is, I don't think Tom will research it enough and I don't feel I can give up that control.

Peanut is doing very well, by the way. Tom missed the beginning of the ultrasound and managed to show up just in time to see all the detailed images of the little heart we made and see that everything looks perfect. We got to hear the heartbeat (149bpm) and watch Peanut squirm around a bit. Turns out Peanut seems to take after Aunt Lisa - NO PICTURES, PLEASE! - as seen in the top picture were we hid our face with our hand. We saw the spine and feet and many of Peanuts little organs. It was such a joy to watch and see the baby again!

In other news, the baby is definitely becoming more active. There are days when I don't feel much, and then days when I feel it all the time. I seem to get kicked more and more the mornings I'm working (I think Peanut likes to sleep in) and then lately there has been a few protests when I lay down in bed at night. The other night I climbed in bed curled up against Tom's back and for the next several minutes there were quite a few persistent kicks right into his back. We'll see if those kicks ever get strong enough to wake Tom. For that matter, we'll see if they ever get strong enough to wake me. (The baby is sleeping in our room because we both sleep VERY soundly!)

A Peanut by any other name...

It doesn't matter if Peanut is a Boy or a Girl. I don't think Tom and I will be able to decide on a name either way. Tom has his idea of what makes a good name and I have mine and there isn't a lot of meeting in the middle. Tom likes more traditional names, preferably with family ties. I want "different" names. Names with a little funk to them. I always hated how popular Jennifer was for a name. There were usually three or four of us in each class (and that was in North Adams.) Tom had a similar experience, but it didn't affect him the way it did me.

A friend of ours had a baby Dec. 30th and had a nice, unusual name for their new son. I loved it. I did an Internet search for it to see how popular it was and what it's origins were. I found a website called thinkbabynames.com. It was well put together and had charts on popularity and whether it was increasing or decreasing in popularity. You can also search by country. I thought Tom and I were picking some more unusual names, but was dismayed to find many of them were in the top 100. Back to the drawing boards I guess. Peanut works fine for now, but I don't know that Peanut Person would be a long term solution.

I started reading What to Expect When You're Expecting recently and skipped over the first three months to Month 4. Once I got to that chapter though, I found that the book actually puts me in month 5 (weeks 18-22, I'll be 20 weeks tomorrow.) I find the whole month/week transition very confusing. I find it much easier to say "I'm X weeks" rather then "I'm X months." I don't know if it's because I know when we conceived or what makes it so confusing, but I just can't make the week/month conversion work.