Well, I feel fantastic! Took long enough to get here, but I’m now in my favourite stage of pregnancy. I feel gorgeous, healthy, sexy, energetic. Woo hoo! 
I’ve got to admit it: I love being pregnant. Even when I was so sick for four months, I just loved it. I feel so fortunate and love everything (okay, almost everything…) about it. You hear so many horror stories of pregnancy but I think it’s pretty great.
I love that my bump is showing now. I dug out my mat clothes and am so excited because they all show off the tummy. Pregnancy is the only time I don’t have to suck in all the time – what’s not to love about that? 
I kind of went into this pregnancy with a bit of sorrow as I don’t know if we’ll have any more children after this. We haven’t decided it we want more than two. Two makes more sense and is more manageable, particularly from a financial standpoint. We always knew we wanted two at least and then after that, we’d see. So I have tried to be aware of everything in case it’s my last time doing this, to really savour it. But now I can’t imagine this being the last time. 
And Anne definitely set the bar high for any subsequent offspring. If this baby is half as easy as Anne was, then I’ll have a houseful. For some odd reason, a houseful of chaos and kids kind of appeals to me more and more. Who knew? Honestly, if we could find an affordable home with enough rooms (or at least room for bunkbeds), I’d have four kids, stair-stepped right up. They’re not the “hard” part of my life; they’re the easy and oasis part, the island of sanity in the midst of the craziness. Plus Brian and I figure we can wrangle them together as long as we have extended family around to back us up. ROFL
But ask me how I feel about that about 2 weeks post-partum and you may get a veeeeeery different answer!
The wee one is evidently about the size of a bell pepper these days. He/she has been very busy, lots of flutterings and movings. It’s really active in the evenings. I’m interested to see how they are as the pregnancy progresses. I should have seen Anne’s energy coming – she practically did backflips in the womb for hours on end, even when we were all out of room. It’ll be fun to compare their activity and see if we’ve got another one with their Daddy’s energy coming along.
I have my ultrasound next week. We won’t be finding out the sex of the baby. We like surprises. But it’ll be nice to see their little face and body, make sure everything is well, and get a picture.
By the way, Anne has become very attached to her “Baby”. My mum bought her this little dollie for Christmas but she hasn’t paid it much attention until now. But now she’s decided she loves her Baby. We think she might be channeling a bit of the Baby talk – like she’s hearing so much about Baby this and Baby that, that she figured this must her. ROFL She asks for her Baby in the morning, wants to carry the Baby everywhere, wants to wrap up the baby and put her to bed. I’ve seen some really sweet sides of Anne emerge. Like she wants to share everything with her Baby. My mum was over the other night and Anne wrapped Baby up and then wanted Granny to put her into her own bed. But when Granny did that, Anne started to demand her Blankie. Thinking that Anne wanted the Blankie for herself, Granny handed it to her but Anne just as promptly laid it down on Baby like ‘I use this when I sleep, so here you go!’ No territorial side to her at all. She puts the Baby on the potty and tries to kiss her goodnight. It’s pretty cute.
I feel so confident that Anne will be a good big sister. She’s such a giver and is very quick to share. My mum says that it reminds her so much of me. She always jokes around that the reason Mandy and I got along so well when we were small is that if Mandy wanted a toy, I just handed it over. No fuss! LOL
I haven’t really narrowed down names at all, nor have I given it much attention. I guess we need to start thinking about that a bit more as well as the transition of Anne’s room to the Kids Room. But plenty of time for that.
The announcement went out at work about my pregnancy while I was away. They posted the one year contract position for my job. Everyone is very excited and supportive. A few of the gals in the office that have grown children have almost been rather wistful, like they miss this stage of their life. They are so happy for me and like to tell stories about their own pregnancies or breastfeeding or labours or life, then they say “I can’t believe it went so fast…now they’re all grown up!” It made me realise how short this part of our lives really is and how precious.
Your baby is approximately 6 inches/ 14.2 centimetres long from crown to rump and she weighs about 7 ounces/ 190 grams. Her chest moves up and down to mimic breathing but she’s not taking in air, only amniotic fluid.
A mid-pregnancy ultrasound scan is often done sometime in the second trimester (usually between 18 and 22 weeks) to assess fetal growth and development, screen for certain birth defects, check the placenta and umbilical cord and determine whether the gestational age is accurate. During this scan, you might see your baby kick, flex, reach, roll, or even suck her thumb. Bring your partner along, and whether or not he’s able to accompany you, make sure you ask for printouts of the baby in various poses.
If you’re having a girl, the vagina, uterus, and fallopian tubes are in place. If it’s a boy, the genitals are distinct and recognisable.
