19 weeks

Is it just me or do I appear to be in a holding pattern as far as belly growth goes? I feel pretty darn big, but when I look at the last few weeks of photos and I look pretty much the same.

This week's highlight has been Patrick feeling the baby kick for the first time! Those itty-bitty kicks from just 2+ weeks ago are now becoming significant enough for others to feel. I feel the baby pretty often now - while I'm sitting in class, lying in bed, driving in the car. It always makes me break out into a huge smile because it reminds me oh yea, I'm pregnant! and those little kicks and jabs are just such a sweet form of communication between me and this mysterious little soul.

I'm sleeping well. I have to sorta roll from side to side, and I have been tucking a throw pillow between my knees for added comfort, but I'm pretty much o-u-t the minute my head hits the pillow.

The main comment I've been getting this week is how massively huge and gigantic my boobs are. Which is annoying because how is using adjectives like huge and gigantic at all a good idea when describing another person's body? Oh well, it's all part of the Purnell Female Pregnancy Experience and these baby feeders did a good job the first time around and will surely do their part again.

All the cramps and dull aches I've been having this whole pregnancy have pretty much disappeared and I am having the occasional very light Braxton-Hick contraction. I feel really great- just very tired but I think that has 95% to do with school since I have a lot of early mornings each week with 8am class and clinicals (I have to BE on the hospital shuttle at 6:15am!!).

18 weeks

I was just looking at the pictures I took of last week and there isn't much of a difference between 17 weeks and 18 weeks with the belly. But physically I'm shocked by how quickly the changes are happening. I'm starting to grunt when I get in and out of bed and I've already lost all abdominal muscles because getting up off the couch takes me rolling to the side just a bit and pushing myself up. I was doing these things for a few days before I realized it and I just can't believe I've got 22+ more weeks to grow and expand and already I'm entering the grunting phase.

We had our 18 week check-up and ultrasound this week. The check-up consisted of us sitting on the couch in an exam room chatting with the midwife Sharon for 45 minutes and then her listening to the baby's heartbeat for about 10 seconds before we went tearing out of the appointment to make it to our ultrasound on time. It was nice talking to Sharon - she wanted to hear all about our IVF experience and then told us about her son and daughter-in-law who are currently pregnant with twins (was triplets: a singleton and a set of identical twins, but one of the twins didn't make it at 20 weeks from IUGR) via IVF from the FIRM. We talked about how great Piper's birth was and how much we hope for the exact same experience (just a bit quicker maybe!). No one was more surprised than me to see that I had gained 8 pounds total so far. Patrick has even politely and gently told me he was surprised that it was not more than 8 pounds. You see, my boobs... they are currently...how shall I say this? Gigantic. Enormous. Comical. I definitely would have thought I was more in the 12+ pound range, but whatev. I know the weight is a'coming so I'll just sit back and enjoy my 8 pounds so far.
Our ultrasound was great and the radiology technician who performed it was VERY sweet and informative. She gave us a super long ultrasound and even turned on the 4D scan for a few minutes, but there wasn't much to see since I have an anterior placenta and the baby was facing away from us the whole time. But this baby is still official a gender surprise since we made it through the ultrasound without finding out. I really don't feel that curious about the gender at all right now. As I get further the curiosity will start to slowly kill me, but for now I feel strangely ambivalent and not really at all interested in the gender. It was so sweet to see that little body on the ultrasound screen and to know that everything look healthy and happy in the womb. Seeing the baby gave me another push towards reality that this is actually happening.

17 weeks

Baby kicks, finally!! I was so happy and relieved to feel some very faint and quick little baby kicks on Friday, and off-and-on since then.This pregnancy is so sweet and fun and exciting, but I don't seem to have as much time to stop and daydream about it. It is always go, see, do and then collapse into bed at night. With my pregnancy with Piper I had so much time to rub my belly and think about the baby and bond with the little human growing in there. There is no shortage of love and thankfulness this time around, but there is a shortage of time. I remember Sue Anne saying this same stuff with her pregnancy with Megan. I feel so excited to meet this little soul, but in the meantime I've got a lot of shiz to do so I am just doing my best to stay happy and healthy for the baby and I'll see him/her in October.
I have my 1/2 way point ultrasound this Wednesday, even though I'll be just shy of 1/2 way at 18 weeks. I can't wait to see that little one on the ultrasound screen. We'll be sure to make it very clear that we don't want to know the sex of the baby. I really have NO feelings/vibes/hunches about what this kid is. I just keep referring to her as a she because I'm use to little girls I guess.

We've been throwing around some names lately. Actually, I have been throwing around names and Patrick has been promptly throwing them out. Homeboy ain't bringing no suggestions to the table, but has no problem marking them off the list.

Some names we like (all of them are family names except for Oliver):
BOYS
Ryder
Rexford (Harold Rexford Purnell was who Dad was named after, Uncle Harry the eye doc)
Oliver

GIRLS
Margot
Margaret
Charlotte
Cecilia
Viola (I know, I know. There is just something about it that I like, but not for a first name. Great-Grandmother's name was Viola Mae and I just think it is so cute)

None of these names we love. The name Piper hit us and we just loved it and it so fits our spunky girl. Hopefully we'll find something we like just as much. We have a list we started a long time ago saved on Patrick's computer, I'll pull that out and check out the names we have on there.

life on life George...

Patrick is so patient and kind and sweet. He is thoughtful and is the most loving and fun dad. He tries his best to be a good son and a respectful son-in-law. He works hard and is a wonderful provider. He is funny and wild and crazy. I've known these things for a long time, but when I opened my mother's day gift I was overcome with thankfulness that I picked the one right person in the world for me, because only someone who really knew me would get me this for a gift... The North and South COMPLETE collection! Eight discs with over a gazillion hours of bad acting and corseted boob cleavage and Patrick Swayze and poor Southern accents! My sisters and I were raised on this mini-series and it was always a personal family favorite. When Patrick and I lived in Charleston I rented the whole first season from the library and forced Patrick to watch it with me until he finally adamantly, straight-up refused to watch another minute and claimed it was stripping him of all masculinity.

'maters

This is a shot of the first tomato I picked for the season. We have two big tomato plants and in the last week I've already picked 7 tomatoes!

Believe it or not, I'm not a huge tomato fan. I don't pick them out on salad bars and I usually push them to the side in salads that I get from restaurants. We never buy them unless I need them for a recipe. But I LOVE a caprese salad and bruschetta, so go figure. These homegrown 'maters have been so good and I've been making BLT sandwiches and just slicing them and eating them with kosher salt.

16 weeks

So check out that side-by-side comparison! Crazy!

There's not a whole lot to report for this week - I feel great, totally normal and I have plenty of energy. I'm REALLY ready for this little baby to start kicking. I've definitely had some moments where I've wondered if maybe what I just felt was a kick, but nothing for-sure yet.

So far I've basically been wearing the exact same outfit for 3 weeks now (see above picture). I'm not kidding, I literally wear it each day. I'm assuming that I will be living in tank tops all summer, so I just went to GAP and bought the same tank top in 3 different colors. I've been having major dry skin all week and I've been slopping on the belly oil that Christa sent me. There is now an oil slick covering everything I touch, but my skin is super soft and smells like coconuts.

I've been doing really good with exercise the last week or so. I try to either walk Piper to/from school each day which is just over a 1 1/2 mile round-trip, or do a prenatal yoga DVD in the evening.

When I wake up in the mornings my bladder is FULL which shoves my uterus up and over and it is always interesting to feel around at all the strange lumps on my tummy.

I'm really happy! And busty too - 34 DD!