Ahead of Schedule

We saw Merrie last week! We are entering the stage of pregnancy where things become very routine and there is not much to report. We are done with the ultrasounds and there won't be any more exciting news until the end, but I have enjoyed looking back at my blogs from Gabe's pregnancy so I'm trying to do a decent job of blogging about this one so some of these little details don't get lost in time.

The general outcome of my appointment was ... everything looks good!! I have made up for the weight I lost at the beginning of the pregnancy, so I guess that is good. (Depends on who you ask!) The baby sounds terrific on the doppler and is moving around regularly!! The most eventful news I have to report is that my belly is measuring bigger than it's "supposed to". I was around 22 weeks 5 days when I saw Merrie and the measurement came back at 25 weeks. You'll remember that last time my belly measured big and I doubted Merrie's mad belly-measuring skills so I'm issuing a public apology here: "Merrie, I am sorry I doubted you. I was in denial and have now accepted that I have a big belly." I believe my response to her measurement was "HOLY MOLEY". She said that it is not an exact science and it isn't even that big of a deal or that important, but they like to keep track of that kind of stuff just in case. I looked back to Gabe's pregnancy to see exactly when I started to measure ahead of schedule and my first record of it was at 24-25 weeks so it looks like I'm right about on schedule ... for me!!

We have been having fun trying to catch the baby's movements. It seems as though this baby only likes to move for it's mama! Joel and the kids have been wanting to get involved in all this movement excitement so I've been trying to let them know when the baby is moving so they can feel it too. Every time someone lays a hand on my belly he gets very still. As soon as they give up, he's back on the move! His movements are becoming much more deliberate. I'm starting to feel rolls and jabs instead of just flutters. Last night he was moving around quite a bit while Joel and I were watching TV. Joel placed his hand on my belly (and was actually patient this time) and he got to feel several big kicks! A little while later I began to feel a hard (painful) knot on the right side of my belly. After a few investigative pokes, we determined that it was a knee or foot! So cool!!! (although somewhat painful :))

We are making some great progress where the name is concerned. I won't tell you what we are thinking at least until we have made the final decision, but I think I can say with relative certainty that his first name has been decided on!!!!!!! Yay us!! Also, we are starting to make some big plans for the arrangement of bedrooms and baby stuff once he arrives! I am feeling the nesting coming on strong so I'm starting to nag Joel about getting things done!! We only have 4 months left!! Not much time in the grand scheme of things ... especially considering I haven't really done a thing yet! So, we will be working on that in the weeks to come. I'll try to post about our progress!