It's alive!!

The murloc has taken advantage of her new size, muscle tone, and the extra room to get her kicks in for the past week or so. She's been bouncing, turning and kicking like crazy, which has been both a little uncomfortable and a lot of fun. It turns out that she is not a fan of turbulance as she did her best to remover herself from my belly when we hit a good patch of it on the flight over. I thought she was just going to crawl her way out of my belly button!

In the evening of our first full day here, an asshole on a scooter cruised by me and stole my purse off my shoulder, dragging me partway down the street with it. I'm a bit battered and bruised and I'm down a passport, wallet, camera and a few other goodies, but all in all, I'm fine. I was a bit worried about the murloc, but as I had managed to turn and land on my hip and elbow, she didn't get much more than a serious jolt of adrenaline. If anything, she's been moving even more since then!

My mom and I are staying in a little village in Southern France and just enjoying the area. I hear the wine is good, but I haven't had more than a couple of sips since we got here. We are close to the Pyrenees and there is some excellent hiking and kayaking to be done here and I'm determined to return sometime so I can take full advantage of it. For the most part, we have been touring castles, eating yummy food, driving around the area, and just generally having a relaxing break. It's not the most exciting trip ever (theft aside) but it has been very relaxing and a lot of fun.

We are heading to Paris on Thursday, where I'm sure my mom will be investing in several new outfits for her favorite grandchild. It does pay to be first sometimes!

School's Out, Baby's Healthy, Life is Good

I had my 23 week exam today and it looks like everything continues to go well. The baby's heartbeat is strong and she's kicking up a storm these days. Last Sunday was our anniversary and it was also the first day that J and I could see the baby moving. It looks like I have an alien in me trying to get out. Creepy, but kind of cool at the same time.

At almost 6 months along, I have gained a whopping 1 pound. According to the doctor, babies are parasites and they will take whatever they need from my body, so just keep eating as much as I want and we're good to go. I have to admit that I'm a fan of this! As long as I don't lose weight, everyone is happy.

Monday was my last day of work and, while I was sad to say goodbye to the kids, I'm really ready for a break! It was a crazy run at the end there, trying to get kids to graduation. I'm so proud of all of the hard work they did though, so it was all worth it. Now I get to sleep for a few days and then ramp up for a friend's wedding festivities and my impending trip to France.

Ah, France. How I can't wait to see thee! We fly out on Monday and are heading to Marseille. We'll spend a couple of days there and they we head to a little town in the Pyrenees for a week before heading up to Paris. It's looking to be a lovely vacation and, with my new Kindle in hand, one full of relaxing reading. Too bad it won't be with a glass of wine in hand. I am bummed about having to stay away from the awesome cheese and wine that will be available, but I'm sure that all things in moderation should be fine.... :)

I realized that I don't have any recent belly pics, but we'll try to take some at the wedding this weekend.

Week 18 Ultrasound

Creepy yet oddly compelling baby pics!

From Week 18

"Mom! Quit looking at me! I'm naked!"

Bouncing Baby, Hold the Pink

We had our ultrasound today and, after much deliberation, decided to find out the gender.  We're having a girl!  A girl who has a really big mouth....  She apparently takes after her father.  :)

J will be posting ultrasounds pics in a little while, but they aren't as clear as the old ones, so I'm not sure how much you'll actually be able to see.  The murloc was sleepy and yawning and not moving around as much as she was last time, but all her fingers and toes and heart and kidneys and everything were there and working.  It really is amazing to be able to see all of that.

With the latest news of a healthy growing baby, it looks like it's time to book a flight to France!  Hold on to your gender-neutral-or-at-least-not-too-pink-finery, Paris.  I'm coming to see you!

Not so quiet on the baby front

I'm sorry that the blog hasn't been updated more regularly.  It turns out that there is just not that much going on (at least visually) between weeks 14 and 18.  The murloc has been growing and doing his/her own thing in there, but I couldn't feel much.  My pants were getting tight though! 

Now, at 18 weeks, the fun stuff is starting.  I can no longer fit in my pants and J loves to talk to my bump.  He's a big fan of all the new curves that come with the pregnancy, though he's not so thrilled with the resulting tenderness.  I hear that this gets better too.  My students have all figured it out and I've been told by several girls that I'm having a boy as I'm carrying kind of low.  I'm thinking I should turn all of this guessing into a fundraising tournament... the schools always need more money!

I first felt a little bit of stirring way back at about 13 weeks, but it wasn't distinct or ongoing.  These days, however, the little jumping bean in my belly is starting to get going.  S/he's now big enough and strong enough that I can feel the kicks and bumps.  It's not very strong yet and you certainly can't see it, but it's there.  Most people describe it as a weird gassy or bubbly feeling and there's definitely an aspect of that, but it's also really tickles.  I'm not a particularly ticklish person, but I almost started giggling in a meeting yesterday because of all the movements.  I can't wait until I can feel it more!  On the other hand, I'm hoping that the murloc is not too much like baby Natalie, who spent quite a bit of time punching her mother in the cervix.  Ouch!

In other exciting news, it looks like I'll be taking a "last hurrah!" trip to France with my mother this summer.  We figure that it will be the last time that we can pick up and spend a couple of weeks in a foreign country without having to be responsible for the welfare of anyone else.  Yes, my dad and J can feed and clothe themselves.  It will be a lot of fun to get back to France one more time and just hang out, eat wonderful food, lust after tasty wine, and buy cute baby clothes.  

We have our next ultrasound next Tuesday and it will be neat to see the baby again.  I do think that doctors do too many ultrasounds and tend to meddle more than is necessary, but it's a bit addictive to be able to see what's going on in there.  My fingers are crossed that the baby isn't hopping around quite so much this time so that the doctor can get a good look and make sure that everything looks good.  We'll keep you posted!

Heartbeat

This is about two weeks overdue at this point, but better late than never! At our last appointment, we got to hear the murloc's heartbeat for the first time:



The murloc, being an aquatic creature with minimal aerobic activities, nevertheless has a strong, rapid heartbeat.

* Can't play the audio? Get QuickTime.

Week 13 Ultrasound

E and I had our 13 week screening ultrasound today; the one that screens for chromosomal abnormalities like Down Syndrome . The murloc was in rare form, confounding the technician's feeble attempts to measure its Nuchal translucency thickness, by spinning, twisting, punching, and generally rocking out. (E swears she saw it throw the horns.)

The happy end result is that between the ultrasound and her previous bloodwork, Eliz has the effective risk level of a healthy 20 year old: the murloc has less than a 1/10,000 chance of having Trisomy 18 or Down Syndrome. That, and the murloc has a normal looking brain, with two hemispheres and a corpus callosum, a complete spine, rib cage, nasal bones, a working stomach, kidneys, and bladder. The murloc was happily swallowing amniotic fluid, fluid which it had just finished peeing into, probably.

All in all, it was a good day.

Update: Pictures!

From Week 13