It is....ALIVE!

Amazing! I was just laying here on the couch watching "Last Comic Standing", and suddenly Beanie started kicking me pretty hard. For some reason I decided to pull up my shirt and watch my belly. And then BOING! My whole tummy under my belly button bounced! Gasp! I thought maybe I was seeing things. So I waited...and then...BOING! He gave me a swift kick again!

I could almost point to the spot on my stomach where his little foot was.

It was cool and at the same time...strange. Like in the movie "Aliens" when the little alien pops out of the guy's stomach. Or, more my style, in Spaceballs when the alien pops out with a top hat and cane and sings "Hello my Baby, Hello my Darling, Hello my Ragtime Gal...." haha...maybe I shouldn't have had the special for dinner. :D

I don't know why my little guy was so fiesty, maybe he didn't like the tacos I made for dinner, but he sure made his presence known tonight!

Other than that, I'm still feeling great. Running to the bathroom every hour is getting really old, especially in the middle of the night. I think I get up about 3-4 times a night. I have a feeling it is because the doctor said I was carrying him really low, so he's probably putting a lot of pressure on my bladder.

The name search continues...I tossed out the names Spencer, Preston, Connor, Mason, Dylan, and Colin. Stephen said none really jumped out at him. None really did for me either, but for me the only one that seems to jump out is Braden. But I really am trying to get passed that. We'll see what we come up with...

It's a...

BOY!

Had the ultrasound yesterday, and its definatly a boy!

It was a pretty long ultrasound, the new doctor is very thorough. She checked to make sure he had a 4 chambered heart, that he had all parts of his brain, that his spine looked good...and of course we looked for all fingers and toes! She even looked at his diaphram and lungs. Everything looked good and normal. He was even measuring a little big, she said. This could mean he's going through a growth spurt right now, and doesn't mean he's going to be a big baby. In fact, up until this ultrasound, he'd been measuring smallish.

She did have some troubles getting images, especially when she was trying to look at the heart. He was head down, and sitting diagonally across my belly. The way he had his neck crooked, it looked painful! But she finally got what she needed, and he was generous enough to give us a good view of his "stuff". I was worried he'd be turned weird and it would be hidden!

Stephen was on the phone with me, and my parents came along. I think he was slightly disappointed at first, he wanted a girl, but I think that passed. It was a surprise, everyone was getting it in my head that it was going to be a girl! At first I really wanted a boy badly, then I warmed up to the idea of a girl, so it didn't matter either way to me, I was just glad to hear he was healthy.

Now the journey to find a name begins...

Anxious

I'm really excited, tomorrow is a big day! Tomorrow we find out the sex of the baby!! It's been a while since I've had an ultrasound. I was getting to where I was really looking forward to them. And I don't know if I'll really get another one after this one. So I'll have to really savor this one.

Beyond that, the belly is about the same, just a little pooching out. I can definatly tell the difference in how I move around. My center of gravity is off. I guess it won't be too long and I'll be doing that pregnancy "waddle"!

Heartburn is becoming an ever constant in my life. I get it after I eat, I get it when I'm hungry, I get it at random times throughout the day. But a couple of Tums work on it pretty fast. I guess just all the pressure from my growing belly is causing it. My appetite has also been increasing. I will get hungry a couple of hours after a meal. I'll have to start packing snacks at work I guess. Hopefully this isn't the part where I put on 50 lbs. I've rather liked the idea that I've lost weight so far, if I can be careful not to gain a whole bunch for the remainder of the pregnancy, then I'll be in good shape.

The heat is really getting to me. I have never been able to handle heat too well, but it seems to get to me a bit faster now. Tonight as we were getting ready for the program to start, my seasonal asked me if I was in a bad mood or something. I appreciated his honesty. I told him I wasn't, I was just tired and not feeling well, and I really think it is because of the heat. Tonight wasn't too bad temperature-wise, but the humidity was really high. One of those days you walk outside and within minutes you are drenched in sweat. Blah. And summer just started. I'm sure it will only get worse. The good news is that I haven't gained a ton of weight, so at least I'm not huge AND having to deal with the heat. But the hottest months are still ahead, we'll see how it goes...

Until tomorrow....

Being pregnant makes you stupid

As if having ADD isn't bad enough. I have always been forgetful. And clumsy. And a bit scatterbrained at times. But it doesn't compare to "mommy brain" as some people fondly call it. Apparently being pregnant makes you stupid. And this is normal!

It's starting to get really annoying. I feel bad for my seasonals at work, they must think I'm a complete ditz.

Yesterday I left work without getting all of my stuff from my program out of the back of the truck. This would be no big deal had one of those things not been my softshell turtle. Yeah. You know what's coming. I get a phone call at 5pm (5 hrs after I had left work) from the Ranger who found the poor turtle. He's dead. I baked him in the sun because I forgot about him.

And today I forgot to go to the store and get cat food. So the poor kitties go hungry tonight because their mommy's brain has gone on vacation.

I wouldn't mind if my little forgetful moments were simple like where I left my keys. But I'm killing and starving poor animals!

Other than that I woke up with a backache today. Right by my shoulderblades. I hope it goes away by tomorrow-which is supposed to be my day off. But NOOOOO I can't seem to say no to people, so tomorrow I get to go on a 3 mile hike. In the heat. Oh joy.

Ugh. Its 1am and I'm bitchy. I should have been in bed long ago. I guess I'll head there now.

I'm so PISSED!

The phone rings at 8:30 this morning, its my doctor in Farmington. They tell me that they want to cancel my gender appointment for Monday. Why? Because I am going to be seeing a new doctor and "since they transferred my records they don't want to play ping pong like that. Plus the gender appointment is a freebie that their office gives to patients and I'm not even going to be staying as a patient..."

Bull crap. Doctors give the ultrasounds at 20 weeks to make sure everything is going as it should. A lot of women don't even get one until then. This guy was just being the big jerk that he is.

So they woke me up on my sleep in day. And made me cry. Thats a good way to really piss Jamie off.

The new doctor in St. Louis was so nice, and I have an appointment with them on Thursday, and she said they would schedule me an ultrasound for Saturday. That will be tough with my schedule but I'll make it work. The good news is Mom and Dad will be back from vacation and will get to go to it now, which will make them really happy. And me too, I didn't really want to go alone.

Belly!

Wow, what a difference a few days can make. A week ago you wouldn't know I was almost halfway through my pregnancy. A couple days after that I felt kicks and flutters, and a couple of days after that I'm getting a belly! Finally! After losing weight in the beginning, I'm finally starting to pooch out. But its literally like you wake up one day and say "whoa, my belly feels bigger". I kinda noticed yesterday, but was too distracted by a migrane to pay much attention. Today I really noticed.

And today marks the halfway point of the pregnancy...wow...already. Week 20. Hard to imagine, its going so fast The baby should be between 5-6 inches now, and weigh about 9 ounces. And it starts to hear this week. Mommy better start watching her mouth! haha!

As for me, I feel good still. My gums are sore today, which I read is very normal because of increased blood flow. But I have to be careful because pregnant women are more susceptible to getting gingivitis, so I am thinking about scheduling a cleaning soon...which I'm desperately overdue for anyway. I just hate the dentist. I've also noticed some extra vericose veins on my legs, YUCK! Its just a couple, but still...those don't go away. I've been spending too much time on my feet and working, so I am going to be sure and get plenty of rest on my days off instead of running myself to death like I usually do.

Kicks!

Well I'm now 19 weeks and yesterday I felt my first kicks! I know I thought I was feeling flutters before, and maybe I did, but there was no mistaking this one. I was sitting in a training class yesterday afternoon, anxiously awaiting break because I had to pee really bad, and suddenly I felt as if someone gave me a little slug...on the inside. And it was uncomfortable because I had to go to the bathroom so bad...the baby has good aim, I guess! The baby gave me three good kicks and then was quiet the rest of the day. It was really amazing. I felt it today too, again while sitting in class. She was very active around 10:30-11am.

I would have posted all this yesterday, but I was just too exhausted. I will be really glad to get home.

In other news, I have a new doctor. I will be seeing a female doctor in St. Louis. She delivers at St. Johns, which I have heard a lot of good things about. I was really scared she wouldn't take me as a patient since I'm so far along. I'm actually keeping my appointment with my old doctor for my gender ultrasound on the 18th (I can't wait!). Then after that I'll be seeing the new doctor.

I'm getting REALLY anxious to know what it is, and the closer it gets to the 18th, the harder it is to wait! But it will be here before I know it...then we can get down to names.

Amazingly, Stephen and I may have actually agreed on a name! We'd had some troubles in that department. It was kind of strange how we stumbled on it too. I was talking to him online, and he was at work, killing time before his students arrived. In the middle of the conversation this pops up: "Hi Jamie, my name is Kayla."

Huh? I think is what I said, it was so random. Then he said that one of his students was watching over his shoulder as he typed, and wanted to say hello to me. Apparently she is one of his favorites. We both agreed we liked that name, so we are definatly putting it on the list. I don't want people calling her "Kay" for short though, YUCK. So we might call her "Makayla" and then for short we have "Kayla". But we'll see.

We haven't even attempted to find a boy name yet...finding a girl one was exhausting enough! But if come Monday we find out that we need to start looking at boy names, you can bet the debate will ensue!