I cannot believe that time is already flying by so fast! It seems like just yesterday I was dreaming of becoming a mother and here I am five months pregnant! Since last week baby has been kicking up a storm, bad thing is baby usually kicks it up at night... s/he might be a night owl just like his's or her's momma. Baby did kick a little at six this morning, so maybe baby can wake up early like it's daddy. 

Matthew is anxious to feel baby move, he is just never around when the little jitter bug is kicking up a storm! 

Today is the big scan! I cannot wait to see baby again! I waited for a good 8 weeks to see baby again, even though I really could not see baby at the last scan.... the screen was tilted too weird. Matthew got to see and he said it looks like it was all bunched up. He asked yesterday if our baby will look more babyish today! Ha ha ha. Silly Matthew.

So I am nervous, nervous that something is wrong with the baby, that maybe baby is too small or too big, that I am not doing enough! Ahhh! I am such a worry wart when it comes to our baby. I just want a healthy baby. I keep on praying that God will take care of this little one inside of me. I know he will. I trust in him. Now if the nerves will stay at bay...

I am finally starting to show a little bit. People still say I look super tiny for being 5  months. I guess I will take it as a complement because I do not want to gain weight too quickly or put too much poundage on that I won't be able to take it off after the baby is here. I just now hit my pre-pregnancy weight! Well... still down one pound but close enough! I wonder how much I will weight when I see my Ob doctor in 3 weeks? I'll have to ask him about my weight gain....

My morning sickness seems to be gone!! Yay!! Though last night I was feeling sick but I think it had to do with nervousness and the fact I needed a good night sleep. I worked really hard that day and was T-I-R-E-D-! I use to be able to stay up all night, and during the first trimester I had sleep insomnia! Since three weeks ago I need to be asleep by 10:30! I use to have to read or play something to get me tired... now I out cold as soon as I hit the pillow. 

So that is the just for now. I will update with information and pictures later! Remember! We are keeping the gender a secrete ;) 

Here are my current baby bump pictures.

Ah, I am so happy that we are at 18 weeks pregnant. I don't care what anyone says, I love being pregnant. It is one of the greatest gifts from God. I am started to feel bigger and had to break down and buy some maternity clothes. Thank-you for Ross because I got a great deal on clothes!! 

I am starting to feel baby more often, the other day I felt a nice thump when I pressed my hand against my belly. I can kinda guess where the baby is because of where I find the heart beat and where I feel those kicks. 

I thought I had a good amount of energy until it was 3pm and I needed a nap. I am finding out when you are pregnant you have those moments when you just feel like you cannot move from exhaustion. I am so glad I am not working so I can have that option to just relax for a bit until my energy comes back. 

We are 15 days away from the scan, I know I mention this a whole lot, we are super excited!!! I am wanting to start "nesting" but cannot until we get our own place. I want to do the nursery so bad! And buy the baby lots of things!! I love shopping for others!

Well, Matthew is watching a movie and I want to join him.

Here are some baby bump pictures...

  

Your Baby Week 18:

Your baby weighs about 5.25 ounces (150g) and now measures 5 to 5.6 inches (12.5 to 14cm) from crown to rump. He is practicing breathing by gulping amniotic fluid into its lungs. This helps the lung's development so they will function at birth. Your baby may also be sucking his thumb.

Meconium is present in your baby's bowels. There is hair present on your baby's scalp and sweat glands are developing.

Your baby is becoming more sensitive to the outside world and is moving around, kicking and punching. As there is still plenty of space in your uterus, your baby can move around a lot, sitting cross-legged, reclining or even turning somersaults!

He can probably hear by now as the ossicles (the bones that pass sound to the inner ear) have hardened and the portion of the brain that receives signals from the brain is under development. Your baby is getting used to the sound of your heartbeat and blood passing through the umbilical cord, but may be startled by loud noises. Your baby is aware of some things in the outside world, including sounds and light. If you let the sun shine on your belly, your baby may be able to perceive a warm red glow. 

This post is about three days late.... last three days I have been sick plus we had some difficulties during the week. Matthew was not feeling well on Monday so we went to the ER and waited 8 hours in the emergency room. Turns out Matthew had an ear infection. We are very glad it is something "minor". Tuesday was horrible because we were running off of 4-5 hours of sleep. Matthew had to work still and I had a swimming class which my teacher won't care if you were in the ER for 8 hrs, she will still count you absent. I kinda wish I did not take this class because usually the teachers are more flexible and will give you some "free" classes that won't count against you. Not this teacher. My horse and math teacher are amazing and will give me some freebies. I just have to have a doctors note or just tell them ahead of time. I think it has to do with the different lives that my teacher's live. My swim teacher is not married and has not kids... my math teacher has a little girl and her husband is in the army. My horse/equine instructor runs a horse boarding center and she is married. So they both understand that life gets in the way and sometimes we HAVE to miss class. 

Anyways.... made it to 16 weeks! We went to a doctor's appointment... I, as usually, was very nervous. I gained three of the 10lbs I have lost... Yay!! Just took 16 weeks to do so. When our doctor walked in, Dr. Quin, he announced that we were going to get another ultrasound because he wanted to check on the baby's growth and see about that blood clots that we saw behind my placenta. We were very excited and nervous. Poor Matthew got all nervous and started to worry that something was wrong with our mini me. When Dr. Quin came back he and started the ultrasound, lots of thoughts went through my head... Have I been careful enough while being pregnant? Have I done anything to harm the baby? Could I have done things better to help the baby grow more? Right away he found our baby's heartbeat! He was very happy how strong our kido's heartbeat is. Baby is growing on target, though being a Singer, and our child, he/she was stubborn and hid behind something so he could not get a good measurement but he said what he could see the baby was growing on target. And... The blood clot is gone!! Dr. Quin said there were not evidence that there were ever a blood clot! Praise God!!! He is happy how we are doing so he said we can see him in six weeks instead of 4 weeks. Cool. Our Anatomy scan is in 19 days... I hope those days fly by! We get to see what we are having! Everyone else gets to wait until birth ;)

So... about being sick. I am pretty sure I caught whatever I have from going to the ER with Matthew... there were a ton of sick people in there, duh! But on Wednesday I had a sore throat, on Thursday I just felt off. I wish I could have skipped swimming class because I am sure jumping in cold water did not help. On Friday, the day of our appointment, I was coughing and feeling super tired... then On Saturday I felt horrible. I had a fever of 99.6 and was coughing, sneezing, nose running, horrible headache... just felt horrible. I had Matthew go on a sick run for me. That night I thew-up, afterwards I went and cuddle with Matthew who was asleep... apparently my fever woke him up. I was running a fever of 102.02... great. So for the next two hours Matthew worked on getting my temps down... when it got down to 100 we went to bed. Matthew is such a good Husband, he takes such good care of me... I love him to death! He had to work on Sunday but called in and found a replacement to stay home with me in case I needed anything. I woke up with a temp of 99.5. Which is better.

I am glad I am in my second trimester, if I was in my first, a fever could be bad for our baby... but because I am in my second trimester we have no worries about a fever hurting the baby, unless it gets to 104 then we have to worry some. 

Check baby's heartbeat on a doppler and s/he had a nice strong heartbeat. I just hope I get over this cold ASAP because I have hw and school to do and I cannot let a cold hold me behind.

I am going to try and take my baby bump picture tomorrow when I look and feel better...

Now I shall end this with pictures of our kittens are cuddly, I think they knew I was feeling bad so they came to comfort me.

This week flew by!! Which I am glad for, I want the next four weeks to fly! I notice that I forgot to post 14 week update :( School kept me pretty busy, so had Matthew with him working a lot and us only having one car so I had to play taxi... which is not my favorite past-time. 

Baby is doing fine, I threw up like five times in the last two weeks... one was from a horrible migraine and I ended up missing the toilet and getting it everywhere! Sorry if it was tmi... Our poor bug (our dog) was worried about me not feeling well, she followed me everywhere to check up on me. She even cuddled with me for a bit. She is the best 70lbs lab dog ever! Ha ha ha. 

I keep on checking on the doppler for the baby's heart beat and so far I have found it with no problem!! Though yesterday it gave me a scare. I turn it on, found it right off the bat (sometimes I know where the baby is because there is a "bump" on my lower tummy) and listened to it for a couple mins. Then I wanted to record it so I grabbed my phone went back to the same spot and could not find it!! ahh!!! After ten mins the little jitter bug (our nick name for the baby) moved from my left side to the right... I did not know he/she could move that far that fast.... anyways the baby's heart beat is getting so much louder!! I can hear it very clearly now, at first I had the volume on the doppler up all the way and had trouble hearing it (that was at 11 weeks) now at 15 weeks and some change I can hear the baby's heart beat no problem! I am pretty sure my sister can hear it in the next room too ;)

No update about finding a house :( we want to get out asap because certain people drive us crazy! ( I am pretty sure the animals feel the same). Yesterday we took some baby pictures but it was kinda hard due to the wind and the time of day. I knew no one wanted to be out taking pictures of me at the proper time, around dusk, so we took them mid-day which we battle the sun and the wind. But we got some nice ones. We even manage to get one that looks like we are in Washington :D 

So I shall end this blog with a baby bump picture of me...

Your Baby Week 14:

Your baby measures about 3.2 to 3.5 inches (8 to 9cm) from crown to rump and weighs about 0.9 ounces (25g). Your baby is now nourished by the placenta.

His face is developing and his cheeks and the bridge of his nose are appearing. His ears are moving from the sides of his neck to higher on his head and his eyes are moving closer together. Your baby's external genitals are now distinct and may be recognized on an ultrasound. Your baby will move away from stimuli near your tummy, such as noise and light.

Your baby's eyebrows have formed and a small amount of hair, called lanugo, has appeared all over his body. Lanugo, which will be shed before birth and replaced with the hairs with which your baby will be born, is thought to have a protective function.

Insulin is present in your baby's pancreas. Some bones may be well outlined. Your baby's thyroid gland, already developed by this week, begins to make hormones.

Baby boys begin to develop the prostate gland at this time and the ovaries of baby girls descend from the abdomen into the pelvis.