17 Weeks

17 weeks! 4+ months pregnant. How did this even happen? The first trimester went by soooo slowly for me. I just kept anxiously counting the days until I reached the “safe” zone in terms of miscarrying. I have been reading lots of friends blogs (and some strangers cause I am a freak) about their pregnancies and I feel so very, very grateful for how wonderfully pregnancy has treated me so far. I thankfully have only thrown up once and only felt a little bit nauseous here and there. My main issue first trimester was having some really impressive belching. Sel was a wee bit jealous I think of how loud and often that was happening. Also, I think a bit thrown off since I usually burp just about never. Also, I have somehow lost about 8-10 pounds since getting pregnant. The weirdest part is I really haven’t been sick enough to not eat and have reduced my usual workout intensity. I guess this kid is just a powerhouse of burning calories. We went to the baby doc on Thursday and he said you look dang fine girl! (Joke, my OB is the most serious man I have ever met and I love him for it). He said everything is measuring great. The baby 's heart rate was 158bpm and he was all sorts of impressed with my blood and iron count. And by impressed, I mean he looked dryly at the screen and told me to keep up the good work.  Being pregnant has honestly been a pretty great experience so far. Since it’s been so great, I am sure I am in for a hell of a time during my third trimester or a rough delivery or a colicky baby.

I have been more tired during this trimester than the last, which was a bit surprising considering I had heard you usually get more energy 2^nd. Keeping up with exercise has been a humongous help though and taking my lunch break nap. I live for my lunch break even more than I did before getting pregnant. I am absolutely dying to know what we are having. I am pretty sure we will find out the last week in February. I have always been a little bit turned off when people say what they are hoping to have, only because I think it takes away the happiness of simply just knowing you are having a healthy baby. Trust me , we are so stinkin thrilled and grateful that we are pregnant that we will be happy no matter what. That being said, my heart is slightly more set on having a boy. I would absolutely adore a little girl and know that she would be perfect for us, but I have had SO much girl in my life.  As in I grew up with the females in my family outweighing the males 3:1, most of my cousins are all girls (my second cousins, which there are a wonderful number of, are seriously 80% girls), and every single calling I have ever held in church has been directly related to helping women/girls. I have loved every minute of my girl world, but I would love to mix it up a bit and get some blue added to the mix of my very pink family. Also, ever since I saw baby pictures of Sel all I have wanted was a mini Sel. Oh my heavens was he adorbs. Obviously he would have had to be to end up so dashing and Thor like, but I have actually cried while looking at his baby pictures because I love his tiny boy self so much. I ultimately am just 100% happy that we are having this little thing and will love it to pieces whether it is a boy, girl, black (though there would be a few questions with this one), or white.

Other recently cool news, I have been feeling the baby move! It's so incredible. I cannot wait until it feels more like jabs and kicks instead of tiny hamster feet running around inside of me when I eat something cold or extra sugary. 

Here is a picture at 17 weeks. I know I am weird and will likely regret this in the not too distant future, but I am so excited to see this bump just get bigger and bigger as our baby grows.

  

Cause pregnancy = sexy