A corny reflection at 24 weeks

Cappy is as long as an ear of corn.

So my email update tells me that my uterus is the size of a soccer ball this week. Gross. Baby is about a foot long and has been gaining weight rapidly- 4 ounces this week! (That explains the kiwi, right?) Actually, Cappy may really like kiwi as his taste buds have started working. He kicks up a storm, especially from about 7-9pm. His kicks are strong and often aimed major organs, such as my bladder. Actually, if he's hanging out the same way that he was for the ultrasound that could be headbutts to my bladder.

Its so hard to believe that I am already 6 months pregnant since it feels like we just found out that we were expecting. The reality has set in and we are starting to get ready to welcome home baby in about 4 months (remember- baby doesn't come until you hit the 10 month mark!) Between the two of us, Joe and I have three amazing dads who all are willing to help us get ready for Cappy. We would like to convert our loft into our bedroom and our bedroom will become the nursery. The plan is to paint the nursery and maybe even add in some bookshelves, if Cappy's grandpa Fischer can come out from Minnesota. My awesome father in law, Dennis, has even offered his services to help with figuring out how to make our loft into a real room. We're just so thankful that we have such a supportive family to help us make the transition to a family of three.

Crazy Craving Alert!

I want to eat kiwi. All day. Every day. The thing is they are hard to find and not exactly cheap. So, I should probably kick this habit, but I find myself temporarily unable to resist the deliciousness of kiwi... ;)

And here is a belly shot!

Week 23

Baby Cappy is getting stronger and stronger! We can see his kicks, punches, and head butts from the outside now. Daddy praises him for doing such great tummy tricks. Cappy's sense of hearing is supposed to be pretty good, but despite this, Joe insists on the mouth to belly baby communication technique. It reminds me of Dory the fish from Finding Nemo doing the whale voice... If nothing else, this is preparing Cappy for Daddy's odd sense of humor. I find myself talking to him as well, but usually when we're alone. Even though I know I am not talking to myself, I still feel a little odd having a one sided conversation with my belly.

I have been dancing with him though. I've been stretching out my back and hips often by hula hooping, dancing, and just standing and rocking from side to side. These offer good stretching throughout the day, but night time is when things get a more uncomfortable. I've been getting rib pain either from displaced organs or Cappy stretching all the way out to put a body part under my ribs. And never being a side sleeper before, my lower back aches as I change from left to right side throughout the night. We've been experimenting with pillow formations and I now occupy 2/3rds of the bed between me, baby belly, my 4 pillows and Snoopy. Apparently my restless sleeping is also causing a bit of very unladylike (and unSuzielike) snoring. Poor Joe.

22 weeks

My email update this morning reminded me that at 22 weeks pregnant, my baby is roughly the size of a spaghetti squash. It says he's 11 inches in length and weighs almost a pound, which we already know is about right from the ultrasound. His skin is full of deep wrinkles until he starts to gain his adorable chub. My email also informed me that my belly button (if it hasn't already) should be popping out soon. I'm inspecting it now and it looks deeper than ever, so we'll just have to see when "soon" is...

Joe and I have started to talk names, but have decided that we're just going to call baby Cappy until we pick one. We are also thinking that we'd like to go to the hospital with a few names and see what Cappy looks like before we name him. But for the record, Capernicus is not in the running for the name of my first born. ;)

Pictures of Baby Cappy

Sucking his thumb

baby foot!

profile

So when we went in for the ultrasound on Friday, Cappy was folded in half with his feet up by his head. At one point we saw him sucking and decided that for sure he was desperately trying to get to those toes. He later found his fingers... We could see everything! We saw the 4 chambers of his heart, left and right brain, 10 fingers, 10 toes, and even a sweet little nose. He is weighing in at about 1 pound. Hard to believe that in the next 18 weeks he will gain 5.5-7.5 more! Anyways, we think he's beautiful, but the doctor agreed that he's perfect! :D

Our special time

As I was driving to work this morning, it occurred to me that this part of pregnancy is so special for me. I feel my baby move and its our little secret because unless I tell, nobody would know. As time goes on, Cappy will grow stronger and others will be able to share in his movement and soon enough people will be able to actually watch my belly change shape as he squirms. It delighted me to think about how precious this time with him is, but made me a little sad at the same time when I realized, only I will remember this time. He will never recall the times his little wiggles were our little secret.

So, each and every time I get kicked or nudged in the ribs, I am going to remember how amazing this time is and that nobody other than me and Cappy know that his foot is lodged under my lung. ;)

Read no further if you do not want to know the gender!

It's a healthy boy! We're headed on an awesome weekend trip, but I'll put up all the beautiful pictures of our son when we get back!

:)

The big day!

Today is my birthday. I love my birthday. I love that I get a ton of phone calls, text messages, and cards wishing me a good day. I always wake up on my birthday with a smile in anticipation of lovely greetings from my friends and family. My 28th birthday is different. Today, I woke up feeling like it was my birthday... and Christmas Day... and the first day of school! It was so much excitement and enthusiasm that it was though all of my favorite days rolled into one because today we get to take a peek at my sweet baby. We get the reassurance that he is growing and developing. We hopefully also get to see the money shot and know if we are expecting a son or a daughter.

So, consider this your spoiler alert! There will be gender news on the blog this evening! :)

21 weeks and a bellah!

Baby is growing and so is Mommy....