16 week checkup and ultrasound

well i guess i have to start off with an embarrassing confession--i apparently cannot count. :( as it turns out, i have been off on my count this entire time by one week. i'm not really sure how or when this happened, but it looks like i'm 16 weeks now, not 17. that's ok, i guess. just one more week to prepare, right?
so anyway, we had another checkup this morning, and everything was looking STELLAR in there. :) the placenta seems to have moved up some since a month ago, when it looked like the area it attached to might be covering the cervix a little. so, it seems to be correcting itself, as they most often do. good news. :) little bean was looking great, as well. lots of powerful kicks and punches going on in there. it's amazing i can't feel any of them yet. he was also a lot more substantial looking since we last saw him, when he was so skinny and jumpy he looked like a little tree frog. now he looks like a big fat baby, just miniaturized. his heart looked and sounded fantastic, and he looked like he really enjoyed stretching his legs out as far as he could. we got a few good pictures, but i think a video would be the only way you could be as impressed with him as i am. to see him moving around is really something else. and besides, he was so active it was difficult to get a clear picture of all his limbs. but when we were watching him, we got to see hands, legs, arms and everything, and they were pretty amazing. maybe next time i'll try to get a little bit of video to post.

in this one he's sort of facing us, but i think looking down toward his feet a little. his brain is so awesome looking! you can see the two halves so clearly. neat :)

these next to are both a side view with him on his back. you can really see all his bones.

and in this one, i forgot to put it in the caption, but that little black area just above his spine is his big strong heart. pretty awesome. and look at his big old baby belly! :)

and this last picture has a bit of information that some of you may want to see, and some of you may want to avert your eyes from: the crotch shot.

it appears we may have a real monster on our hands. :) (if you click on it, it gets bigger and you can see it a little more clearly.) i have to say i'm a little psyched about the toy situation that would result from such a thing being true--boy toys are just so much cooler than girl toys. sure, my heart would break a little if he NEVER wanted to have a pretend picnic with me, but i think playing with GI joes and cars and pretending to be dragons and daring knights would more than make up for it. but nothing's for sure, and we remain strongly opposed to pink and blue color-coding, anyway. so, a bean's a bean, beanpole or no. (and yes, i did use the following site to come up with that euphemism: http://www.gregology.net/Reference/Dicktionary) *snicker, snicker*

and lastly, here are the missing pictures in the growing belly chronicles:








first lying down picture


my cute little over the pants bump






we painted these blue, and the walls are going to be green and yellow. we can't change the drawer handles, so we're going to paint them. not sure what color, though. i wanted to just use the same green or yellow as the walls, but the handles are very ornate and antique looking, so i feel like maybe they should just be silver. anybody have any opinions on that?

well thanks for reading my ridiculously long update. :) hope you're all doing great.

ps
if anybody has any name suggestions for a boy, we would love to hear them. we're not doing too well in that department...

13 week ultrasound and check up

on friday we went in for a check up and had another ultrasound done as well. we got mostly good news, and a little bit of news that could potentially suck. let me start by saying about a week and a half before the appointment i went to the gym for routine number three, which is legs. i did some squats with a barbell and 30 pounds added on. although i hadn't done squats since i'd gotten pregnant, this was twenty pounds less than i was used to doing, and i did 3 sets of 10, no sweat; didn't feel like i was straining at all. (i had only been skipping them because it was usually occupied when i got there.) i also did another kind of squat which i hadn't done in awhile, with just twenty pounds or so, then some other leg stuff that i usually do. well, the next 2 days i could barely walk. i had no idea why i was so sore. and the scariest part was the next morning. i had a couple drops of blood when i woke up. i was really worried about this, even though i'd already read a lot about all the different things it can mean, and how it's usually no big deal if it's just a little (which it was) and i had no pain (which i didn't). i even checked online about doing squats during pregnancy, and everything was saying that it was actually a great idea. so i called my mom and my midwife and they said to just keep an eye on it, and to definitely not do those squats anymore. (don't have to tell me twice) so i was quite pleased when the day of our check up finally arrived and we got to see our little guy dancing around again. he looked healthy as could be, so i was quite relieved. however, my midwife took a close look at the screen and said it looks like my placenta may have attached a little low (which could explain that bleeding). in less than 10% of cases, this does not end up fixing itself as everything moves up and out in the next 2 trimesters, and when that happens you end up with placenta previa. that would mean the area where the placenta attached is covering the cervix, which would mean no natural birth for me. :( instead, it would mean a hospital, searching for a doctor i like, tons of medicine and interventions, a c-section, and possibly my entire birth plan going out the window if i don't find the right doctor/hospital. i wouldn't be able to bond with my baby right away, they would do all sorts of tests on it, breastfeeding would be delayed, they would cut the cord immediately...all these things i did so much research on for so long and feel so strongly opposed to. so, naturally, i was pretty upset with this news. but i'm trying not to let it get me down. in most cases the situation corrects itself, and even if it doesn't, the baby is still healthy, and that's priority number 1.
here are the three beautiful pictures we got this time:


this is him facing us. a little creepy, but cute.

this is him laying on his back. he kept putting his hand up to his mouth and it really looked like he was sucking his thumb! (which i did read they can do at this point)

this one is my favorite. he is facing down, back arched, arms out, and i swear he is doing a heel click! he looked like a little frog in there. he was squirming in this position for a good minute, and it was hilarious. he's just like his dad: