back, more or less

We are back in our time-zone of residence, but you wouldn't know it from the way I've been dragging around the last couple of days. I am so exhausted! I'm counting down the minutes to the weekend so I can take a break. I'm off work on Monday so I'll have three whole days to recharge my batteries. Our 11 days o' parents was fun. And busy, and sleepless, and I-can't-believe-I-ate-the-whole-thing-ish. As a result, we are completely behind on our normal life responsibilities - bills, grocery shopping, dog and cat snuggling, laundry, belly shots... speaking of which:

That would be my mega-belly. That would also be our twenty-one week belly shot. Yeah, we were doing them every four weeks and the last one was at 16 so this one should have been at 20 but I'm impressed we took one at all at the rate we've been going. One week overdue? You should see some of the dates in our refrigerator.

And while I'm posting pics, here are a few of someone waaaaay cuter than me:

I can't wait to tickle those little toes.

The baby had one arm tucked up alongside its head and refused to move it until the very end of the ultrasound, no matter how hard the tech poked and prodded. It appears we've got a stubborn one on our hands already. I'm now sure we're going to have one of those babies that takes forever to move down the birth canal because their darn arm is up alongside their head the whole time. The funny thing is that I sleep with one or both arms over my head nearly every night and I have since the day I was born. Guess that really is my baby in there.

He or she is head-down and all the way over on the right side of my body, so it seems all those "kicks" I've been claiming in the lower right part of my abdomen are actually punches and elbows. I'm starting to feel stronger sensations in the center now, below my belly button, so maybe those are from little legs that are folded up funny. We didn't get a good view of how the legs are positioned because the sonographer was avoiding everything below the baby's waist as much as possible. M felt a kick for the first time last night. Two, actually. I'm excited to finally be able to share that with her.

I think we're going to try to register on Sunday, or at least get started. We've looked at the calendar and we don't have another free weekend until after Thanksgiving, by which point I suspect we'll be overcome by holiday madness and it'll be a chore we'll be glad to have behind us. I'm feeling nesting urges and I'm hoping making a list of everything we need will feel like a step in the right direction.

The washer is buzzing at me which means I can move the laundry into the dryer and go to bed. One more day of work. I think I can! I think I can!

best show in town

We're staying with M's parents so I only have a minute but I wanted to update that our ultrasound went perfectly. Baby is measuring to the day for height but seems to be a bit of a chubster! Weight is estimated at 13 oz. and the average for 20 weeks is about 10.5. Oy vey. Due date is still 3/11/09. The ultrasound itself took nearly an hour and it was awesome getting to gaze at the little one for such a long time.

I have great pics but I managed to scan them into the wrong format for posting so I won't be able to share them until we get home next week. I keep pulling them out and staring at the little profile. I can't believe we'll be kissing that face in a little over four months.

We did not find out the sex. I was so tempted laying there on the table with the information right there at our fingertips but I'm glad we held out.

Not sure if I'll get online again while we're here, but I'll be back next week to catch up on everyone!

crusing right along

I'm going to be quick because my parents are staying with us and I need to get in the shower if I don't want to be the hold up.

Everything is still going well. Judging by my bladder and lung capacities, things seem to be shifting upward internally. I think I've only had to get up to pee once in the past 7+ nights - a huge and welcome change! On the flip side, my lung capacity is deteriorating rapidly. I get winded going up a single flight of stairs these days.

I think we've decided on a daycare. I went to visit one on Tuesday that was awesome. It was completely different than the first one I fell in love with, but equally good, I think. The scale-tipper is that we can reserve a spot for June (unlike the other one where we're currently sitting near the bottom of a one year waitlist) and they charge $100 less per week! It's right down the street from my office so I can breastfeed at lunch if I want to and they will use cloth diapers if we decide to go that route. We're going to try to find a time for M to check it out before we put down a deposit, but with her work schedule, that just may not happen. She'll get in there before the baby does, one way or another. We tend to have pretty similar values on these types of decisions so I'm sure she'll love it when it finally works out for her to visit.

Ultrasound is this Wednesday! I can't wait. I will be 20 weeks to the day. I can't believe I'm almost halfway through my pregnancy! I also have an OB appointment on Monday so it'll be a big baby week. Hopefully all will go well.

More soon, including the scoop on yesterday's chat with our RE. Nothing major, or even that interesting, but I'll post about it anyway. :-)

current conditions

Things at work have been non-stop, insanely busy and my home computer is acting up, so my internet access is pretty limited at the moment. Tonight, for some reason, it is cooperating so I bring you an 18 week update!

Things are going really well. I am absolutely loving the fact that I can eat again... and I'm celebrating by eating pretty much everything in arm's reach. I'm only up 7 pounds from my pre-IVF weight (right on track according to my "your pregnancy this week" email which says I should have gained 5-10 pounds by now) but my big ol' belly is already forcing me out of a few of my earliest maternity items. Today I did the rubber band trick on a pair of maternity pants - yikes!

I'm getting pretty consistent movement these days and it's such a trip! I'm amazed by how much this little one is rockin' and rollin' in there. I can't wait until M can feel it from the outside.

Our big ultrasound is 10/22. I can't wait! It's been over a month since we've had a glimpse at the baby and I know he or she has developed so much since then. It worked out that my mom will be in town during our ultrasound so she's going to come along. I'm really excited about sharing it with her. We're still firmly in the "not finding out" camp so there won't be any gender announcements, but hopefully we'll get some pretty pictures to share.

Still haven't heard anything back on the quad screen, but I'm assuming no news is good news.

I'm nearly finished with the hypnobirthing book and it's mostly resonating, but I'm a bit overwhelmed by it all, too. I think taking the classes will really help cement the key concepts. Contacting local instructors is on my list for this week, computer willing.

We're still struggling with girl names. I'm pretty sure we will be right up until (and during?) labor. M and I just have such different taste. It's amazing we agreed on the boy names as easily as we did, really.

I paid the last of our outstanding IVF bills today - they totaled* a mere $2200. Yeowch. Still, I would do it again in a heartbeat and there isn't a minute that goes by that I don't think about how amazingly lucky we are. I went through so many months (years?) believing so completely that this could never happen for us. My heart is with those still waiting and hurting. I hope that your babies find you sooner rather than later.

* Did you know the dictionary lists both totaled and totalled as appropriate ways to spell this word? How can that be? Commit, people!