18 weeks

Whew!  Another week down!  This one wasn't quite so full of excitement as last week, but it was a great week none the less!  I'm feeling really good, have lots more energy this week than I have had, and morning sickness seems to be a thing of the past.  Plus, I officially had to ditch the belt on my skinny jeans, and bought my first pair of maternity jeans this week!  Been feeling more fat than pregnant the last few days, so hopefully a more pronounced bump will be arriving in short order!

This week has been full of crazy crazy dreams about the baby.  One was that it was a girl, the other that it was a boy.  So that's not conclusive ;)  But all this week when referencing the baby I have referred to Framboise as "she" so I guess I'm feeling more like it is a girl this week!  Kevin isn't so sure, but he's playing along with me for another week and a half (!!!) til we find out for sure!

Kevin is heading to Washington, DC, for the week, so I'm on my own. Hopefully I won't do too much food damage without him around to keep me accountable ;) I'm excited to see if he thinks I look different on Friday.

We are both in major nesting mode all of a sudden. We bought a new sectional couch this weekend which will require much rearranging of furniture once it arrives, but we planned everything out, including exactly how we want to lay out the nursery.  We've been getting rid of tons of stuff we don't use anymore and organizing the things we can't quite part with.  We are refinishing a dresser after we get back from Tucson and are inheriting a bunch of other furniture which is super! As Kevin said, now we can spend more money on ice cream! ;)

Week 6 versus week 18:  definitely a little bigger bump going on there!

How far along? 18 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: -2 pounds.  Almost back to pre-pregnancy weight!
Maternity clothes? Bought some jeans!  Gonna wear them next week for sure!  Still fit in my regular clothes though.
Stretch marks? Just the ones I already had!
Sleep: Great!  Peeing a lot at night, but sleeping hard otherwise!
Best moment this week: Seeing our soccer team and getting to hear how excited everyone is about the little Orangesicle!
Have you told family and friends: Yes!
Miss Anything? Nothing really this week...
Movement: Pretty quiet in there this week
Food cravings:  sweets big time! Bring me cookies and ice cream!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope!
Have you started to show yet: Yep!
Gender prediction: Feeling a girl this week!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking forward to: ultrasound next week!!!!

17 weeks

Can't believe we are almost halfway there!  In some ways Kevin and I feel like we have been pregnant for ever, but in other ways I have been having mini panic attacks about how quickly he or she will be here!  We have definitely been taking advantage of our remaining DINK (dual-income, no kids) status by going to tons of movies, dates, and looking forward to our last big trip together before baby arrives to Tucson in a few weeks!

This week has been pretty spectacular!  We had a midwife appointment on Tuesday, which went swimmingly, and even better, we finally got to hear the baby's heartbeat!  At the 12 week we couldn't hear it, and then at the ultrasound they didn't do anything with sound, just visual, so Kevin and I have been greatly anticipating hearing it!  And it was just as amazing as I thought it would be.  Even though we have seen the baby on ultrasound, somehow hearing the little lub lub lub going twice as fast as my much slower heartbeat was so exhilarating and made the whole thing seem much more real to me this week!

I've also very suddenly popped a belly!  Over the weekend it was definitely starting, and now here we are at Friday and I can no longer suck in my gut.  There is for sure a little pot belly.  And it is high (so you know, must be a girl) ;)  When the midwife went to examine my uterus, she was saying that it would probably be 3-4 finger breadths below my belly button.  I lifted my shirt, she placed her hand on me, and went, "Oooorrr, 1-2!"  This kid is ready to show the world it is on its way!

I've been doing a lot of thinking about what organizing we need to do to get our house ready, with little action so far.  I think that will be our big priority this weekend, along with watching the SEAHAWKS game!  Have a whole lot of books and crafting items that I need to pare down to what I really use!  And Kevin has some major garage organizing to do!

How far along? 17 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: -3 pounds.  Almost back to pre-pregnancy weight!
Maternity clothes? None yet, but I will be doing some shopping this weekend!
Stretch marks? Just the ones I already had!
Sleep: Pretty well!  Still conking out at 8:30 almost every night, and needing to pee A LOT!
Best moment this week: Hearing the heartbeat!!!
Have you told family and friends: Yes!
Miss Anything? Fried eggs....I'm going eat so many in July!
Movement: Nothing this week
Food cravings: I really wanted an Arby's roast beef sandwich with cheese yesterday...still want one...gonna try to move past this craving though!  I've never in my life eaten at Arby's so don't really know where that came from!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Seem to be moving on from that, though smells and uncooked meat still make me queasy.
Have you started to show yet: Yep!
Gender prediction: Feeling a girl this week!
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking forward to: Finding out the gender!  Made our ultrasound appointment for the beginning of February!

Baby Shaffer Update

Right-o, so we're having a baby!  Haven't been recording anything here on the blog, but I know I will want to look back on this!  Since everyone in our life knows now, I'm ready to record it all!  :)  This is a bit long, but I needed it down for posterity!

Happy 32nd birthday to me!  We were pretty sure on my birthday, confirmed the next day!

There have been some definite ups and downs.  The biggest up was for sure telling the family!  We were so glad that 10 weeks coincided with Thanksgiving weekend, when we knew we would see almost every one in both of our families.  It was extremely difficult to keep it to ourselves that long, but I really really wanted everyone to be there for the announcement, plus I was quite nervous about my miscarriage risk and getting everyone excited then having something happen.  In retrospect, if we had miscarried, the first people I would want to know are me and Kevin's parents, but at the time it seemed prudent to keep it mum.

Thanksgiving week rolled around, and we were spending dinner with my family.  My very large family who never seem to be in the same place at the same time!  After fretting about my oldest brother not making it to the house before my younger brother and his fiance (!!!!!!!!) jetted off to her family, he finally arrived just as Nick and Kyla were headed out the door!  I managed to corral everyone into one room, with the cover that what with it being Thanksgiving, I wanted to take a moment while we were all there to give some thanks for all the wonderful things that have happened to our family this year (including 3 of my siblings falling in love, 2 getting engaged, 1 already married with 3 amazing little girls to complete the package!)  I went through each awesome thing, and then through quaking voice said that there was one more thing we were really thankful for, and that it was our little baby would be arriving in June!  Everyone was over the moon!  (Except nephew Jackson, who at 5 years old seemed a little betrayed that his aunt May May would replace him with her own baby, and also ALL THE NOISE!) It was a happy afternoon for all!

Onto the Shaffer family that evening after dinner:  We were playing cards as a family, with Kevin just waiting for an opportune moment to sneak in our news!  Well, there really wasn't one, and the game wrapped up and everyone started moving away from the dining room table.  Yikes, spill it, babe!  So while everyone was sort of milling around, Kevin non-nonchalantly throws out, "Well, I have a point of conversation."  Everyone rushed back around the table, and you could tell almost everyone knew what we were going to say!  "We're having a baby!"  Again, excitement and love and so much happiness!  It's pretty much the best thing telling your loved ones this news!

Then we were all set to have our 12 week midwife appointment where we were very much hoping to hear the little heart beat before we made our news completely public.  Meanwhile, all my pregnancy symptoms completely disappeared, and I started to feel a bit nervous about the state of my little Framboise.  Even though I logically knew that we wouldn't necessarily hear the heartbeat, I had my heart completely set on it for the peace of mind.  Of course, when we went in, our wonderful midwife Geraldine and her student couldn't find it.  Neither of them were terribly concerned, as it wasn't a given, but as she was talking through options such as waiting a couple weeks and coming back, I of course burst into tears.  Geraldine immediately shifted gears, faxed through a request to an ultrasound place, and said there was absolutely no way she was going to make me wait a couple weeks.  I was relieved.  We got on the phone and got an appointment for the next afternoon, and then I spent the next 24 hours in a complete daze of worry.  Even throwing up the morning of the appointment did nothing to squelch my despair.  Kevin was an amazing rock of support through the whole ordeal.  He did not think anything was wrong, but was completely understanding of my need to KNOW!

We hadn't planned on having an ultrasound until the 20th week, but I am so so glad we went!  They got us into the room, slathered me down before we even really talked about anything, and then up on the screen popped our little baby!  I have never felt anything quite like the immense relief and joy at anything in my whole life!  I think I nearly broke Kevin's hand squeezing it so hard! :)  We got some really great views, and little Framboise's heart rate was strong at 161 beats per minute.  Phew!!!!!!!

Kevin says it takes after him, what with the lack of hair! I love the little foot hanging out in the top left!

So then we waited a week, and decided that we really wanted to tell Kevin's coworkers at their Christmas party our news, as well as mine before we Facebooked the news.  It was so much fun telling everyone!  Kevin especially has some incredibly wonderful coworkers who have made us feel so loved since we joined the Corps family 4 years ago.  :)

Then the big reveal on FB!  I am pretty pleased with how our announcement turned out!  The outpouring of messages was lovely, and I just love how many people are so excited about this little guy or gal!  We find out in a few weeks what we are having, and I am soooooo antsy!  Neither of us has a preference either way, but it will be so nice to know!

I've been taking pictures almost every week (looking back I'll know which weeks I skipped the gym!)  Thought I'd put up a little comparison photo from the early days to current status.  I think I am definitely getting bigger,  though funnily enough I am actually 4 pounds lighter this week than I was at the 6 week mark!

How far along? 16 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: -4 pounds (Lost 9 pounds in 1st trimester, put on 3 over Christmas week, and another 2 pounds since)
Maternity clothes? None yet
Stretch marks? Just the ones I already had!
Sleep: At night pretty well, though I have a cold this week.  Not as tired during the day as I was!  Starting to have to pee numerous times a night.
Best moment this week: I think I am starting to show a little!
Have you told family and friends: Yes!
Miss Anything? Coffeeeeeeeeeee
Movement: Possibly!  Thought I felt some moves earlier this week, but it may have just been gas :)
Food cravings: None
Anything making you queasy or sick: Bad smells (aka something off in the fridge, a musty towel)
Have you started to show yet: Not really.  I think I am getting slightly thicker, but no real bump.
Gender prediction: Boy (just because of the inordinate amount of men in both our families!)
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking forward to: Getting a bigger bump & finding out the gender! :)