Mushy lovey-dovey stuff

For those of you who know Chris and I, you know that we aren't a super lovey-dovey couple.  Does that mean we love each other any less, of course not!  We just have different ways to express it.  Here is how I know Chris loves me a lot:
1) Walking the dog at night because I am deathly afraid of snakes.  FTR, we have never even seen a snake where we live now.
2) Refusing to let me vacuum because it hurts my back.
3) Being strong enough to stay with Victoria in the last moments of her life because there was no way I could do it & crying the whole way home because it was so hard.  I am crying now just thinking about it.
4) Giving up his one day off a week countless times to be my assistant at weddings, engagement sessions, newborn sessions, etc and not complaining one bit.
5) Insisting on being the one to put clean sheets on the bed because I always hurt myself attempting to get the sheets on our gigantic mattress.
6) Believing from the very beginning of the pregnancy that it was a girl because he knew that I wanted a girl.
7) Getting teary eyed when he was telling people that we are having a girl and that he didn't realize how much he wanted a daughter until we found out that we are.
8) Being the cat box cleaner.  Seriously, what a guy.
9) Loving my animals as his own.  Seriously, our cats are pretty naughty and we have had some rough patches with them.
10) Loving me no matter what.

Of course there are more, but pregnancy hormones now have me crying, so that is all for now.  Here is one of my favorite photos of us:

20 weeks

How far along?  20 weeks

Baby’s Size:  Fruit - size of a cantaloupe  6.5 inches

Baby’s Weight: 10 ounces

Development: Her uterus is funnly formed and practicing acrobatics.

Weight gain/loss: +1 lb from pre-pg weight

Sleep: Nothing has changed.

Best moment this week?  There were quite a few: we now have the furniture & crib mattress.  I also found & ordered the fabric for the curtains and crib skirt.

Symptoms: Having to go to the bathroom all the time!

Labor signs?: Nope!

Movement?: Nothing really.  However, at my appointment today, the midwife was showing Chris the difference between the head and butt and how to distinguish the limbs.  As soon as the midwife "cupped" her butt, she flipped around.  I could feel this on the outside since I was pushing against her.

Belly button in or out?: In

What I miss: Nothing really - just the usual rare steak and sushi

Food cravings/aversions:  Sweets, especially Steak n Shake milkshakes (strawberry or chocolate)

What I'm looking forward to: The fabric arriving

Milestones: Halfway there!  According to the midwife, she now has a 92% chance of survival outside of the womb if heaven forbid something were to happen.

What I look like this week: (I changed my hair too.)

19 weeks (posted 5 days late!)

How far along? 19 weeks

Baby’s Size:  6 inches (the size of a large mango)

Baby’s Weight:  8 ounces

Development: Vernix is now covering the baby's skin.  Kidneys are now developed enough to produce urine and hearing is well-developed.

Weight gain/loss: I don't do this week to week but rather by appointment to appointment.

Maternity clothes?  Yep and I am going to start taking this one out b/c it will be maternity clothes from here on out!

Sleep: A luxury like always.

Best moment this week?  We found out that it's a girl!  We also now have all of our furniture thanks to my step-dad.

Symptoms:  Hunger, hunger, and more hunger.

Labor signs?: Nope

Movement?: Still nothing, but I am hoping it will be in the next couple of weeks.

Belly button in or out?: In

What I miss: Rare steak!

Food cravings/aversions: Still craving sweets, especially chocolate.

What I'm looking forward to:  Having the baby room cleaned out.

Milestones: A rep at work congratulated me without me having to mention anything about being pregnant.

What I look like this week: (Oh and my face always look fatter with my hair down!)

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!