My little karate kid

Well here I am at 20 weeks, halfway done!! I just wanted to quick write a re-cap of week 19.

Week 19 was a big week for us. I had another check up with my OB and alas I still have not gained a single once, but she assured me that our little guy is growing strong and healthy.  She did refill my anti-nausea pills, which is a huge blessing, I don’t think that I could function at all without them. This week I was pretty sick even with the aid of the medication, I had a hard time eating and keeping food down.  Unfortunately we are pretty sure now that I will be suffering with illness throughout the pregnancy, although we are hopeful that it will start to ease up the further along we get.  The most exciting thing that happened last week was that I felt the baby kick for the first time!!!  I think I skipped the “butterfly” stage because what I feel are definitely kicks; a few times he has kicked so hard that we can see them.  He seems to be most active at night and makes it difficult for me to fall asleep because he is moving around too much, but I love every minute of it! It really is one of the most amazing experiences.   

Name: this past week we finally settled on a name, our baby boys will be called…..Daniel Robert Richards! Isn’t it just the sweetest name! :) Keith and I went back and forth a few times on the name but last week we had 2-3 confirmations that we chosen the perfect name.  

Weeks 17 & 18

Well, yet again I have neglected to update my blog.  My brain is so far from functioning most days that the contemplation of composing enough thoughts to create a blog entry seams daunting. I really feel bad though because it’s been a few weeks and much has happened.

 I went to my week 16 check up at my OB/GYN’s and finally I didn’t lose weight!! It was the first time since I started going to my prenatal appointments, so it felt like a massive milestone! It was nice all of the nurses cheered with me after my weigh-in, and my doctor had a smile for the first time.  NO HOME IV’S!!! I lost 13% of my total body weight.

Weeks 17 & 18: not much changed during those weeks, I still felt sick most of the day, but only had a few vomiting episodes.  I started to have a little bit more energy, which was great.  I started folding all of the laundry for Keith to help a little with the household tasks; I even put a few loads away!  It was the first time in 4 months that I felt that I remotely helping Keith with something. I also spent a lot of time researching Hyperememis and participating in a few online forums.  It’s been great to talk to other women going through this, for once I feel like someone understands exactly what I am going through. I started to try and use the hyperemeis survival guide which has also helped, http://www.hyperemesis.org/downloads/survival-guide.pdf . Doing research has really helped me with all of the guilt I’ve been feeling and my depression.

At the end of week 17 we had an ultrasound to check up on Baby Richards health and find out the gender. The ultrasound went well, however the baby would not hold still it took almost an hour for the tech to get all of the photos and measurements that she needed.  So of course the baby was stubborn about letting us see their gender, but we finally got a good look and we are having a……………….BABY BOY!!! Keith was so cute, he walked around for a week say” I’m going to have a SON!!!” He is pretty ecstatic.   

The weekend of Feb 5^th my best friend Maria and her husband Eric came to visit and spend the night.  She made to most delicious meal and I was able to eat it with no aversion, which doesn’t happen very often. We had a wonderful time catching up and watching movies, my social life has been nonexistent for the last 4 months so it was great just to spend quality time with friends. The weekend did poop me out and it took a few days of afternoon naps to recuperate, but it was well worth it.