How Far Along: 18 weeks 5 days
Size: 8oz and about 5 ½ inches long. Food comparison – Potato!
Weight gain: I don’t own a scale sorry!
Gender: We still don’t know (Looking away at the ultrasound was pure torture! I don’t know how long I can keep this up!)
Baby bump: It’s a biggish, solid bump! I am almost half way and already quite uncomfortable in the evenings. Oh dear! Also…I can still feel my own skin stretching after dinner…how much bigger am I going to get?
Movement: Confession, I can’t tell if I am felling flutters or air bubbles!!! Every time I think he/she is moving, I have a little burp 😉 The ultrasound this week showed the placenta was on the top so it might be ‘blocking’ me feeling movements early on.
Sleep: The last couple days I have been sleeping terribly. I toss and turn from side to side. I often wake up on my back, then go back to the right-side-left-side-toss!
Exercise: Still trying to do yoga every other day. I haven’t been walking like I used to. I need some motivation to get back out there!
Clothing: Mmmm. Pajamas are great until 3:00pm when I nanny and then I have to put on big girl clothes. I’m still wearing normal clothes with the Maeband helping with all the jeans. I wear bralettes so the underwire of a regular bras doesn’t push on my tender boobs. Ouch.
How I’m feeling: Pretty energetic. I still don’t feel like cooking in the evenings but hubby gets me motivated.
Cravings/Aversions:
Cravings- Still coffee, mint chocolate, but this week it’s croissants. Ahhh, why?
Aversions- BBQ sauce, stirfry, curry, meat smells (reading this again was almost painful!)
What I miss:
Lying on my tummy
Upward dog and backbends
Nursery: I still haven’t started yet. Trying to find an eco-friendly twin mattress for our baby’s floorbed. Any ideas?
Purchases: I bought a whole bag of gender-neutral clothes from a friend’s garage sale on the weekend! What a win! I hear that babies grow so quickly in the first couple months, so some second hand items are perfect for the bank and our little one!
All of this for $4!!! I like yellow, can you tell?
Hubby: Daniel did part of the Appalachian Trail in Virginia over the weekend and I missed him so much! I had a lovely time with mom though. I even had a sleepover at her house. That’s what moms are for right!?
Best part of the week: This was also the hardest part of the week. We had an ultrasound on Tuesday and it was incredible. I didn’t know it was going to be so detailed. In the 7-8 week ultrasound, our baby looked like a little slug. This time we saw the spine, ribs, a four-chambered heart, brain, kidneys, phalanges, and his/her sweet face. The nurse said all the organs were working well and we had a healthy, strong baby! Baby was even giving us a fist pump.
Left: 7weeks2days Right: 18weeks2days (Fist pump by the nose/mouth)
It was absolute bliss until the Doctor came in, had a look and said he had some bad news. Those are the words no one EVER wants to hear right? He said our baby has a Single Umbilical Artery or SUA. Most babies have one vein taking oxygenated blood and nutrients from the placenta into the baby, and two arteries carrying fluids out. Ours only has one artery. This can be a sign that there are other problems such as heart complications, as well as chromosomal and other abnormalities. We went as pale as ghosts and I was fighting tears, well heavy sobs actually, until the Doctor left. I cried thinking that it was something I had done or not done, but the Doctor had said that the cause is unknown. He told me he was encouraged by how good baby looks at the moment, and to come back in 6 weeks when the organs are bigger so we can really rule out any major concern. He told me if I wanted to find out more about it, to look on ‘medical’ websites rather than people’s blogs as I might become scared unnecessarily.
Mom (who is also a nurse!) quickly did some research and found out that 1% of pregnancies result in SUA and luckily 75% go on to give birth to healthy, happy babies. We are praying for our little one and are trying to remember that God is creating this beautiful soul and we will love him or her no matter what.
“We’ve got this mum and dad!” –baby D–
Can’t wait for: Movement! Come on baby Deane, give us a kick won’t ya!
Read next week’s update here:
Vegan Pregnancy Update {19 Weeks}
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