Flutters and an Expanding Waistband...

Hello all!

Well, today is the beginning of week 19. Can you even believe it?! I can't. Starting last weekend (one week ago), I was awake most of the night with round ligament pain again which I had not experienced since week 14. Therefore, I knew something was-a-brewin' down in my belly. Sure enough, Tuesday we woke up to a hard and big baby bump! Its so incredible to feel a stretch or change and see the physical reflection of it so quickly. To the left is the latest picture from last night.

A new symptom has crept in, back pain. Not just lower back pain either. I woke up last night and had to sleep on the heating pad up near my shoulder blades; as I write this, I lean against the heating pad at work too! Nathan asked me if I was going to "cook" the baby with all my time on a heating pad, so I reassured him that it wouldn't hurt but the baby may be born with a tan. Hm...

The baby is the size of a Mango this week: 6" and 8.5 oz. The growth spurt will begin to slow but the brain development is in high gear. Here is some info from the American Pregnancy Assoc.:

"While your baby is continuing to grow, the development that is occurring is very specific. For example, the kidneys are making urine, and hair is beginning to sprout on his/her scalp. The parts of the brain that are responsible for the senses are specializing. If you are having a baby girl, she already has 6 million eggs formed in her ovaries."

I have been feeling flutters for the last week or so and every day I feel more and more. They are very subtle, but its occurring too often to be attributed to gas! Its so odd - as I sit here typing I feel little feetsies dancing in my tummy. I can't wait until we get to see the next ultrasound and will see it moving around. I can tell BabyE is very active.

We find out the sex on OCTOBER 7 - two weeks from today at 9AM! I think we are going to have a family get-together to announce it and celebrate. Afterwards we will make calls to share the news with everyone else. We have names picked out so I am mostly excited to be able to call our baby by name and to begin preparing the nursery. That will make it so real.

Well, back to work. Love you all and please continue to pray for the health and perfection of our little one.

XOX
Bonnie