The Grays

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Bill and I had our monthly doctor visit on Friday.  We could not be happier with Dr. Wolanski – too bad he probably won’t be the one delivering our baby!

During the visit we heard the baby’s heartbeat for the first time:  a healthy 135 bpm!  We tried to hear it with the doppler several weeks ago but it was too early, and the volume was not on during the last ultrasound we had.  What an amazing sound…

Dr. Wolanski assured me (for the fourth time) that in my case there is no reason to worry about weight gain.  He told me to expect a total weight gain between 16 and 22 pounds due to my size and build, and not to worry about tracking my weight (which I have been doing every morning) as long as I am eating the right foods.  He also said that I might not ‘show’ for awhile because of my long torso.  This is slightly frustrating for me because I’m ready to show the world that, yes indeed, I’M PREGNANT!!!  🙂

Coming Up:

• Movement:  I have indeed felt the baby move but this sensation will get stronger and more obvious every day.  In a few weeks Bill should be able to feel the baby!
• 22 week ultrasound scheduled for March 5th (Boy or Girl?)

Pomegranate

Today mom is 17 weeks into her pregnancy. I’m about the size of a Pomegranate (una granada). My skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, I weigh around 5 ounces (about as much as a turnip), and I’m now around 5 inches long from head to bottom.

Mom is probably starting to feel a little bit off balance as her belly grows. I’m also causing her to wake up more frequently during the night, which allows her to remember more of her vivid dreams. She keeps telling Dad about these strange dreams, and he seems amused. Yesterday during the night she even confused Dad with her brother Todd, which they both laughed about before falling back asleep.

My parents are a little goofy, aren’t they?

I’m excited to play with those monsters!

Hooray for Leela!  Our adorable, almost 1-year-old niece has provided us with lots of education and parenting ‘practice’.  Okay, so with her we get to do all of the fun stuff without any of the ‘dirty’, but we certainly have an idea of how things go during the first year.

While in San Diego this past Christmas Bill had fun reading the book “That’s not my dinosaur” to Leela.  Since then we have been sending her videos of us reading her a different book.  Most recently I read “Este no es mi monstruo” to Leela in Spanish (along with the English translation).  Leela is going to be bilingual!

Here is the video:

We asked our parents to send a list of family names, and below is the list from my parents side of the family.

Un Aguacate

Today Mom is 16 weeks into her pregnancy. I am now about the size of an avocado (un aguacate),  measure 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump), and weigh 3 1/2 ounces. My toenails have started growing and my heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day.

If mom hasn’t already felt me move, she should sometime within the next four weeks. According to babycenter, mom should also be feeling less nausea, fewer mood swings, and will have ‘glowing’ skin that contributes to an overall sense of well-being.

Tomorrow we have dinner plans with Dean and Melissa, who are also expectant parents and both Darden students. Their due date is about two weeks before ours, and it should be fun to compare stories as we go through the stages together.

Dean and Melissa are our only pregnant friends in the area (at least that we know about). We first learned of their expected arrival through a mutual family friend – Dean’s mother and Kristy’s mother share a common longtime friend.

I’m expecting that the dinner will include a comparison of the bumps. Hopefully this won’t make Kristy uneasy, as she has been a little concerned that she isn’t showing more, and hasn’t gained any weight. The doctor says all is fine, which is confirmed by our Internet research.