16 weeks.

My 16 weeks post is a little late because I wanted to wait until I went in for my second breast ultra-sound before posting.  I wanted to be able to give an update about my office visit since many of you reached out in response to my post.  Fortunately, everything checked out OK, but my experience there was pretty traumatizing and deserves a post of its own.  Let’s just say that my experience was so bad because of the Dr.’s lack of bedside manners that I’m going to file a formal complaint against this woman.  Yes, it was that bad.


Not to be a tease with that, but I don’t want to post about it here and have it over-shadow my weekly baby update and updates about Anna.

16 Weeks:
— Girls my age have noticeably more jaw movement than boys.
   
— I am strong enough to get my mother's attention with a good kick!
   
— I turn toward something touching my mouth. Maybe its food!
— Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces.



The details…

How far along: 16 weeks

Total weight gain: 10 lbs. YIKES!  I went from zero lbs. to 10 lbs. overnight, it seems.  I’m so bummed!  10 lbs. seems like quite a bit this early in the game.  Then again, I’m almost halfway there, so maybe not.  If I think about it like that, I’m far less likely to curl into a ball and cry.

Sleep habits: Sleep has been OK.  I’ve been waking up every few hours to pee which is a pain because it’s always a toss up whether I will fall back asleep or not.  If Joe’s snoring is manageable, I will fall back asleep quickly.  If he’s sawing logs or if my anxiety kicks in, I can kiss sleep goodbye.  I don’t remember having so may sleep issues with Anna, but I also didn’t have a toddler waking me up every once in a while.   

Maternity clothes: The bump is here.  I see people staring at me sideways and ready to comment but holding back just incase.  I always want to shout out and say, “Yes, I am pregnant.  No need to feel awkward.”

Here I am at 16w2d:

I am a lot bigger at this stage than I was with Anna.  For comparison purposes, here is a 16 week bare belly shot of me when I was pregnant with Anna:



16 weeks with Anna - Where’s mah belleh?

And to show you that I was pretty much the same size at the beginning of both pregnancies, a photo (I’m even wearing the same jeans which is pretty pathetic and means that I need to shop more):


5 week photo with Anna


5 week photo with new baby and ratty looking jeans that need to be retired.  Gee, I’m even wearing a gray shirt both times.

So, what does this mean for me?  Will I be whale size by the time this  baby arrives?  Eh, who cares.  It’s all for a good cause, and if my stomach gets too heavy, I’ll just hire someone to hold it up for me. 

Best moment of the week: This week has been pretty crappy.  Car problems (over $1k to fix), a horrible experience at the Drs.  Wait, the best moment is that the baby started kicking!  How can I let that crap overshadow something so darn amazing? 

Food cravings: I basically crave…food.  Hot food, cold food, spicy food, mild food, salty food, sugary food – all food.  At this point, all foods are fair game, and if you leave your hand laying around, I may even eat that, too. 

Symptoms: Sleepy, moody, weepy – just a ball of pregnant fun!

Movement:  YES!  Little pings here and there.  It was so obvious the other day that I could almost *almost* see the baby’s movement from the outside while looking at my belly.  I just love the baby kicks. 
 
What I’m looking forward to:  FINDING OUT THE GENDER!  When I talked to my OB’s office, they told me that I may be able to get squeezed in for this Monday, but I highly doubt it will happen. 
  
What I miss: Not having to pee 2,000 times in the middle of the night.

Next appointment: My November 1 appointment was moved up to Halloween.  Spooky!  If the ultra-sound tech can squeeze me in, maybe I can find out if we’re having a ghost or a goblin – I guess the ghost would be the female in this scenario.

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A day at the pumpkin patch…
One of my absolute favorite fall activities is visiting a pumpkin patch.  This year, time was slipping away, so I didn’t know if we’d make it out there, but we managed to take a trip to a new place this past weekend, and it was seriously the most fantastic farm ever.  We missed the pumpkins, but Anna hardly noticed because of all of the other cool stuffs that were there.


We will definitely be back next year.  We had a blast!