Off to Babies R Us!

While Brad was in India, my mom came to visit, and we went to Babies R Us (my first time for baby looking). While looking at the cribs, she snapped this pic - I think I was basking in the baby glory. In just a little bit, I'm meeting a friend for lunch and Babies R Us again. She already has her "little man" and is going to tell me all the things I do and do not need - thanks, Jenn!!! It should be very helpful. Brad and I will go later to pick the other important stuff - bedding and furniture.

Here's a belly shot at 20 weeks - doesn't look much different than last time, huh? Well, I've gained 10 pounds total, which is on target. The baby weighs 12 ounces. Does that not compute to anyone else!? Haha! I know, I know - there's a lot of other stuff causing that weight. Baby Pete should be about 9-10 ounces, so you can understand that I'm worried about having a big boy! And I'm trying to do this naturally? Guess what? I need prayer!

Sweet Baby Face

As an update from the last post - no nosebleeds since then (and thank goodness!).

Our appointment this morning was fun. We got to see a lot of Baby Pete's organs, like his stomach, kidneys, heart and ventricles, cerebellum, etc. It was amazing to see God's knitting so up close and personal.
Baby Pete is within all of the "normal" parameters, but we all know that as part of this family, he'll never be normal! And that's a good thing! The really neat thing about this morning's appointment is that they took 3D ultrasounds of the little guy. I'm not sure if we'll have any more ultrasounds from here on out, but we can almost see what he looks like with these, so I guess that's pretty good!

Oh my - isn't he so cute!? If I do say so myself... Now that is not a hole in the top of his head, that's just how the image is translated since those bones won't be fuzed for many months. I think his whole face is precious and can't wait to kiss it. Brad thinks the little guy has his nose and my mouth (we get into guessing what he's going to look like). What do you think? Leave a comment to vote on who he looks like more at 20 weeks past gestation!

Baby Pete was unusually shy this morning. He's usually a big ham for us, but today, he was hiding a lot, so although we have more pictures than this, these are the best. Speaking of shy, look at him covering his face! We had just viewed his boy parts... What do you think of those cute hands!? And yes, that's the umbilical cord hanging out in front of him.

Another exciting development - Brad can feel Baby Pete! He's moving all the time now, and sometimes, I think he's knocking on me to get out of there. I don't blame him; he did look rather squished today. I told him he better stay in and get healthy - let's see if he starts out a listener.

Brad and I will attempt to choose baby things this weekend. We love all the little themes, so it's hard to choose! I hope Baby Pete will like it (like he'll notice).

We're just so thankful he's healthy and developing well. We pray all the time for how God will use him greatly. I pray he knows Jesus at a young age and shares Him with all he knows. That's a tall order, mister!

One side note on today's appointment: I refused my flu shot. I just don't like the idea of putting trace amounts of mercury or aluminum or whatever other junk is in there in my body while Baby Pete is developing. My doctor obviously let me make this decision (he is legally bound to of course), but he highly discouraged it and suggested I get the H1N1 vaccine as well (which I will also politely decline). I do know that if a pregnant woman contracts the flu, her system is not always able to handle it well. Please pray for strong immunity, health, and special protection during this time - especially since I will be pregnant most of the winter.

Make the nosebleeds stop!

TMI alert - Pregnancy Symptoms follow!

It's common knowledge that pregnant women have extra fluid hanging around (everywhere, by the way). But this extra fluid isn't just about bloatation. Almost since the beginning of my pregnancy, I've had a lot of sinus congestion. This is normal, and it's no big deal. Some extra tissues and hocking in the morning do the trick. But last night, I woke up around 2:30, in a light sleep, and all of a sudden felt liquid in the back of my throat. This has happened to me before - a nosebleed in the middle of the night. In fact, I get nosebleeds every few months or so - I'll have a few in a row, and then they'll go away. So, I got up, pinched, tilted, and tissued, and laid back down hoping the blood would stop so that I could get some more sleep. (I had a tissue in my sleeping hand just in case.)

Fast forward five and a half hours to me waking up at 8am - TOO LATE! I should be working by now! Ugh. I force myself to get up and get ready for a late start. I'm brushing my teeth when the blood starts trickling down my lips and teeth. Not now! I'm running late and have a mouthful of toothpaste. I grab a tissue and try to spit out the toothpaste in my mouth, which gave new meaning to "pink in the sink".

This was not the usual nosebleed. This is the worst nosebleed I think I have ever had. I went through tissue after tissue, pinching here, pinching there, praying, "Please Lord, make it stop!" The tissues were soaked in almost seconds. I managed to, not looking down, get the trash can on the counter - this allowed me to completely fill it up with tissues. I was shoving them down to fit even more. Minutes are passing, and of course, the blood is also going down my throat, so I'm now holding my nose for dear life, spitting in the sink, and trying to wash it all down the drain - without looking down! Any movement would make the gushing start.

About 20 minutes in, I think I might have a coagulation that could hold still for a while. So I, looking up the whole time, mind you, get ready for my shower. The shower was pretty quick, as I just wanted to get out of there before the bleeding started and I was forced to get blood all over my towels. I got out, and things were looking good. I said, "things", not me. I looked awful. One of my nostrils just had this huge bloody cork in it - siiiiiiiick! Well, just to end this long TMI tale, I had to leave that cork in until about 10:30. At 10, I had a phone conference, so you can imagine me just praying that the geyser would not return.

Of course, in the pregnancy realm, all of this is "normal" and "safe" - unless you start feeling faint. Right now, I have almost 50% more blood than I usually do, and I guess today it needed a place to go. I just pray I get a bloodynose-free day tomorrow!

Hey now, if you've read this whole post - I warned you that TMI followed.