Bumpdate: Week 20

Even though I have been pretty miserable so far, this pregnancy has gone by pretty fast! I'm 20 weeks and 4 days pregnant today.

20 Weeks

Some stats on my pregnancy so far:

Weeks Pregnant: 20

How big is the baby? At the 19 week ultrasound, baby measured 8 inches and 12 ounces. According to TheBump, our baby is the size of a banana this week. Getting big!

Weight Gained: 5 pounds. Starting to wonder when the weight gain thing is going to happen. I'm not too worried yet, especially since I lost a few pounds in the first trimester, but most places put weight gain at the 20 week mark between 7-12 pounds, or 1/3 of the total weight gain. Running the numbers, I expect to gain around a pound a week for a total weight gain of 25 pounds. This would be perfect. I'm working on not obsessing over this fact. I'll gain what I need - I'm eating what I can when I can.

Ultrasounds done: 3 and probably no more. The first one was done at 9 weeks to detect viability when I was in the hospital (see below). The second was at 13 weeks for diagnostic purposes. The third was for genetic screening and to determine the gender, which leads us to...

Boy or Girl: It's a girl! The ultrasound tech was able to get a clear view of the parts and is 99% sure that we have a little girl. We were both hoping our first would be a girl, so we're pretty excited. 

Symptoms: Heartburn, nausea (although is starting to get better) mostly caused by insanely thick mucus, nosebleeds, carpal tunnel, occasional cramping, extreme emotions - I already cry easily, but pretty much anything sets me off these days.

Cravings: Chocolate, Sweets, Fruit (especially smoothies)

Aversions: Meat of any kind, the smell of eggs, raw onions, and pretty much anything else that is not on the cravings list.

Hospital stays: 1. At 9 weeks I developed a deep vein blood clot (DVT) in my right leg. I like to now joke that since I had a DVT in my left leg in 2006, I have a matching set of blood clot legs. My body essentially hates increased estrogen and requires me to be fully medicated with blood thinners. I originally was on a low dose plan but that did not stop me from developing a clot, so I now get to pour thousands of dollars worth of medication into my body. Fun!

Blood thinners injected: 200 or so

Movement: I started feeling something happening around 18 weeks. Weird light tapping that seems to happen when I'm sitting in a slightly reclined position. Also when I feel like sleeping in.

16 Weeks

Pregnancy is starting to get a little more fun this week with a much more noticeable bump, baby "kicks," and finding out that our baby is a girl! Not gonna lie though, I'm pretty excited to be done also. Halfway there!

Our "Fantastic Mr. Fox" Themed Nursery

Choosing a nursery theme came pretty naturally to me as one of my favorite movies ever is "Fantastic Mr. Fox." Being an elementary ed student, I recently read the Roald Dahl classic and I enjoyed it, but the movie is absolutely amazing.

And what's not to love? Foxes, their forest buddies - badger, a possum, rabbits, and outlandish pranks. Orange is my favorite color and it just seemed to fit. We plan on encorporating lots of forest animals, grays, oranges, and nature-y type stuff into this baby's room. And it will be mostly gender-neutral. We find out the sex of the baby very soon, but don't plan to change our plans too much. If we end up having a second child while still living in this house, it will be nice to have things decorated for girls and boys since we could have one of each sharing this room for a while. 

The natural first stop for us was Ikea. I would have loved to go a little vintage, picking up pieces from the thrift store, but the pickings are pretty slim where we live. And Ikea has everything at low prices. We love having an excuse to go and we decided back in October that we would pick out nursery items at Ikea during our winter break. Both of us were lucky to have a substantial amount of time off this year. We spent a couple of days in Chicago, and on our way back, stopped at Ikea for some 99 cent breakfast and to oogle the adorable baby stuff. Here is what we looked at/picked out:

The Gulliver crib comes pretty highly recommended and I was really satisfied with this pick. It was only $99 and was super easy to assemble. No particle board, all solid wood. I was happy. We are on a serious budget (aka this baby is costing us an arm and a leg in medical bills - more on that later), so we also picked up a mattress while there. It is the Vyssa Vackert and in my opinion, too cushy. Oh well. Mike picked this one and we didn't really think too much into it. I'm sure the baby will survive. 

I originally planned on skipping the changing table and going with a big dresser with a changing pad on top. Then I realized we didn't have room for the 8-drawer Hemnes that everyone uses these days. I also liked the idea of open storage for diapers and accessories. We can also hang the wet bag easily from the bars on the top of the table. 

And since I went with a changing table, we still needed some drawers for storing all those adorable onesies and pajamas. I originally was going for all white furniture but when we saw this one in the showroom, Mike said we should get it. It's a little more red in person and it seems perfect for a woodsy nursery. And it is $50 cheaper than the white version. 

I was going to look at our local Goodwill for a nightstand but I saw this as we were filling up our cart with the dresser and decided to go for it. 

This is my favorite chair at Ikea. It's new this year and the perfect shade of orange. Mike was with me on getting it until he found out that it was $279. 

We ended up going for practical and not breaking the bank. A $69 Poang chair bounces and rocks and I think will work well for nursing and bedtime stories. We also got the footstool so I can prop my feet up. Since we already have a twin bed in the nursery, I will have a variety of options for nursing and I am happy about this. Once the baby is older, we plan to move the chair into the living room.

And we couldn't resist all of the forest stuffed animals. We got the foxes, a bear, an owl, a badger, some mice, and a rabbit. It was also nice that Ikea donates $1 from each stuffed animal to children's education programs.

It was really hard not to buy the entire baby section of Ikea! 

So that's what we bought! Coming soon, nursery progress.

Happy 2014!

Whoops! December kinda got away from me, guys. I say things like I'm back to blogging and then disappear for a month. My bad. Sorry.

Between holiday parties, finals, a stomach virus and travelling, there hasn't been much appeal to blogging lately. But I'd like to get back into the swing of things. Here is what I would like to do in 2014:

1. Get Organized
Our house is a mess all the time. Getting rid of clutter and making some trips to the dump (the environmentalist and hoarder in me cringe at the thought) are in order. With a baby on the way, it is essential that we get a system in place for cleaning that can be done quickly. I'd love to get a hub going where we can stash mail, keep track of appointments, etc.

2. Eat Healthier
This one is hard people. Being pregnant is no joke. There are more foods that I can't stand than I will tolerate. I naively thought that this sort of shenanigans was reserved for the first trimester. So so wrong. What do I like eating? Carbs, fruit, chocolate. Probably in that order. Cooking for myself is next to impossible which leaves me with eating out a lot and "making" cereal and PB and J's count as dinner. What should I be eating? Leafy greens, greek yogurt, eggs, "normal food" - the baby won't let me. And just in case I ever want to try, I get rewarded with acid reflux and a day full of miserable.

3. Be Nicer
I guess it's just my personality, but I am not good at showing myself as a caring person. Smiling, taking some breaths before I open my mouth, you know - being a decent human being - would be a good start to being kinder and gentler to the world I live in, I'd also like to be nicer to my husband. There's only so much I can blame on hormones. I'm kind of a bitch. There. I said it.

4. Finish up some house projects
I'll go into detail later, but in order of necessity: The shower, the kitchen, the curtains, the basement.

5. Have a Baby
Yup, this is a goal. This includes prepping for baby, taking a class at the hospital, trying not to get gestational diabetes (see #1) and obtaining a healthy baby. And then surviving the chaos that ensues with having a baby.

I'll be back soon with some nursery updates and maybe a bump status? Exciting things to come, I promise!