It's a ...

Okay, so I have to leave you in suspense for just a minute.  As some of you may know, I said that the baby is a boy because according to all of the old wives tales, it was a girl.  Chris was guessing girl.  Only 3 other people said girl and everyone else said boy.

During the ultrasound, the baby was super stubborn and uncooperative.  No big surprise there!  Our plan was not to find out the sex during the ultrasound, but rather have the tech print out a picture and put it in an envelope.  Then, during dinner that evening, we would open up the envelope. 

The baby looked great - heart, spine, umbilical cord, etc, looked great.  Then when they went to check the sex, they turned off the monitor so we couldn't see.  The tech said that the baby had its legs crossed and was moving around a lot.  She thought she got the sex, but wasn't 100% sure.  Fantastic!

The midwives wanted my cervix checked, so the tech was hoping to be able to see more during that scan, but of course, the baby had it's legs crossed and there was no way to tell.  The tech decided to try one more time with the regular ultrasound and she did a lot of pushing after I did some moving around.  The tech then said, yep, I definitely got it.  Yay!

I will say that watching the ultrasound was surreal.  The baby was literally stomping its feet.  We could not get one shot with both feet in the photo.  The baby was also punching and just moving around a lot.  I was laughing pretty hard (which I am sure didn't help at all) and the tech was laughing too.  She said that she likes doing scans like this because it makes her job more fun.  : )  So far I haven't felt any movement which is supposedly because I have an anterior placenta (meaning it is in the front).

Then we were done and left with the envelope in our hands.  Our plan was to go home, change, and go to dinner.  C was walking the dog while I was changing and then I heard him come inside, yell something, and go back out.  Come to find out, an unknown dog walked into our garage!  We had no idea who this dog belonged to as it did not have a tag but it did have a collar.  We decided to walk around and see if anyone recognized him.  We had never seen him before, so we did not know if he was from our neighborhood or not.

Everyone that saw him said they had never seen him before.  Fantastic.  There was no way we were going to leave him outside and we couldn't really bring him in our house because Jasmine is not dog friendly with 100% of dogs.  We decided to run to the vet (it is now 5:35 pm) to see if he has a micro-chip.  We get there at 5:55, have him scanned, and of course he has no chip.  Ugh!  We drive home and decide to just crate him in the garage while we go out to dinner.

Dinner was great.  The server asked if we were celebrating anything, so we told him what we were doing.  His guess was boy.  Before dessert came, we decided to open up our envelope.  There were 2 printed photos in the envelope.  The first one I pulled out said "3 line sign," so I immediately gush "It's a girl!" and C looks at me totally confused.  Then I pull out the second photo that says "girl" and he goes, see, I knew it was a girl.  Ha!

Now I feel comfortable sharing "what I wanted."  I definitely wanted a girl which is another reason I thought it was a boy!  C knew that I wanted a girl, so being the good husband that he is, willed it to happen.  : )

The other funny story from our dramatic day is that I was on my cell with my mom to let her know the results.  All of a sudden we see cop lights behind us and I ask C if he is getting pulled over.  Sure enough, he gets pulled over.  I ask C if he ran the stop sign and he says, "yes, I think I did."  Great, just great.  The officer comes up to our car and asks C if he knows why he is getting pulled over and C replied, "yes officer, I think I didn't come to a complete stop back there."  The officer tells him he is correct and asks for the usual license, registration, and insurance.  The officer asks if there is a reason he ran the stop sign to which I lean over and tell him that we just found out the sex of our baby and I was on speakerphone with my mom letting her know.

He then comes back to the car and says that the fee for running a stop sign is $160 something and 3 points on your license.  Fantastic!  He then says that he is giving us a warning, so "make sure you stop at all stop signs,"  told us congratulations and to have a safe night.  Whew!  Score one for our baby girl!

Oh, so back to the unknown dog.  We pull up in our driveway and there is a post-it on our garage with the address of the owner (who is on our block).  C walked the dog over and the owner was very thankful.  C said that the owner is an elderly person who doesn't walk the dog, so that is why we never saw him.  C gave him the suggestion to get the dog tagged and microchipped in case that ever happens again.

All in all, it was quite the eventful evening!

18 weeks

How far along? 18 weeks

Baby’s Size: 5 and a half inches

Baby’s Weight: 5 ounces

Development: Baby is now mastering hiccuping and yawning (but I can't feel this yet!) and now has his or own fingerprints.

Weight gain/loss: I am still down 4 pounds from pre-pregnancy.

Maternity clothes?  Yep!

Sleep: Eh, I haven't really ever been a good sleeper, but I did wake up at 3 am this morning because I was starving!

Best moment this week?  I finally figured out what the nursery will be if it is a boy.

Symptoms: Not really much besides an expanding belly.

Labor signs?: No!

Movement?: Nope.  The midwives think I have an anterior placenta (meaning it is in the front), so they think that my feeling of movement might be delayed.

Belly button in or out?:  Still in.  However, I have always had a very deep belly button (I could fit pretty much my whole pinky finger in there!)  Chris commented this week that he can actually see the end of my belly button now!  Haha!

What I miss: Sushi and rare steak

Food cravings/aversions: Sweets: butterfingers, root beer floats, & oreos

What I'm looking forward to:  The anatomy scan tomorrow!

Milestones: Supposedly I am now in the 5th month.  That seems crazy to me!

What I look like this week:

Oh and I must tell the story that my boss's wife (who has had 3 kids) made the comment to me today that my face now looks pregnant.  She asked if I could notice the fullness in my face and I was shocked!  I don't think my face looks bigger than it did pre-pregnancy, but hey, maybe that is just me!

Chicken, Garlic, & Sundried Tomato Pasta

I am finally able to tolerate grocery shopping and cooking again (Chris and my bank account are thankful for that).  This is one of my favorite recipes.  It is kind of like a healthy alfredo that isn't nearly as bad for you.  My poor gallbladder cannot handle alfredo sauce, so this is a tasty alternative.  Let me know what you think!

Original recipe:
1 16 oz package of farfalle pasta
1/2 cup butter or margarine
3 cloves minces garlic
1/2 cup milk
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 Tbsp grated romano cheese
1 can (10.75 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup
3 cooked chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, rehydrated in water

1) In a large pot with boiling, salted water, cook pasta until al dente. Drain.
2) In a large saucepan, melt butter.  Add garlic and cook until brown.  Add the cream of chicken soup & milk, stirring until smooth.  Stir in dried parsley, salt, and ground fresh pepper.  Simmer 2-3 minutes.  Add chicken & hydrated sun-dried tomatoes.  Simmer 6-8 minutes.  Mix in grated Romano cheese.
3) Toss pasta with chicken mix.

My alterations:
1) I don't use 1/2 cup of butter.  I use 2/3 of a stick instead and use more condensed soup.
2) I LOVE sun-dried tomatoes and like to have 1 with each bite.  I use a whole bag of them but I have no idea what the measurement is.
3) I only usually use 2 chicken breasts instead of 3.
4) I increase the garlic, salt, & pepper since I use more condensed cream of chicken soup.

Nutritional info (when made without my alterations):
Calories: 438
Protein: 21.5 g
Fat: 19 g
Sodium: 629 mg
Cholesterol: 68 mg
Carbs: 46.2 g
Fiber: 2.3 g

So, do you have a preference?

This is by far the question du jour for me.  For the record, yes, I do have a preference for the sex of the baby, but I will be happy either way.  Other than my husband, the only other person I remember actually telling my preference to was my eye doctor.  His wife is 3 weeks further along than I am, so we were chatting and this is the usual question that comes up.  It seemed harmless enough to discuss this with someone that I see once a year.

I kind of feel like if I say I want a boy and it ends up being a girl (or vice versa), then people will say things and I just don't want to deal with that.  I was already outspoken enough pre-pregnancy - add the hormones to that and there is no holding back!

Also, for the record (another one), Chris thinks it is a girl and I think it is a boy.  So far, everyone has guessed boy except for one friend who had a dream that I called to tell her it is a girl.  Hopefully we'll know in 2-4 weeks!