Baby O Update #3

How far along am I? I am currently 24 weeks 2 days. From the nurses perspective that means one thing- viability. For the rest of the world that means that each day that passes increases this babe's chance of doing better and better in the outside world should the wild one choose to make an early entrance. However, I would of course prefer that this baby keeps cooking for another 16 weeks. Okay.. maybe 14 weeks.

What are we having? After a crazy gender ride in August we are now 110% confident that we are having a BOY!

Do we have a name picked out? Nope! Not even close. We are taking a bit of a name break and will re-address boy names again with a clean slate in a few weeks. We were getting a little name crazy and started thinking that every random word would work for a boys name. I think a break to clear our heads will be good before we end up naming this kid "coffee table".. "CT" for short.

Are we going to tell everyone the name? I am guessing we wont announce the name until the little dudes birthday- only due to the fact that our taste in names in still changing every day. We do have a few front runners though which we may share with ya'll a little later on.

How am I feeling? Great! I feel very blessed to have had an uneventful pregnancy thus far. When some of the common annoyances get the best of me I always sober myself up with the fact that it could be so much worse and I am truly one lucky girl. But who wants to hear about that? You want to hear about all of my misfortunes dontcha?! Well here ya go.

1. Heartburn. For the love of all things holy I have never known heartburn like this. In the past, my experience with heartburn was limited to the middle of the night and typically wine induced. This most certainly is the baby's fault as the wine is most definitely not flowing as it had been in the past. I have been eating Tums like tic-tacs and taking Pepcid 'round the clock which helps.. a little.

2. Leg cramps. No joke- I had a 5 minute "charlie horse" the other night.. 5 MINUTES!! I seriously thought I was dying. It was a teary disaster of an episode to which Jakob responded "Sweetie, I think we need to take some childbirth classes" as soon at the cramp had subsided. I think that was his sweet way of telling me I do not handle pain with lots of grace... haha!

3. Back pain. I partially blame myself for this one. Having too much pride to admit that I am indeed in a "delicate condition" I went ahead and moved furniture thinking nothing of it. That was until I bent down to pick something up an hour later and couldn't stand back up. Since that lovely day, I have had several episodes of pretty nasty back pain. I'm hoping a little rest and TLC will help rebuild my back strength but I fear that damage may have already been done. Lame.

Can I feel the baby moving yet? While this baby is certainly not kicking all the live long day yet, I have been feeling a lot more during these past few weeks. After months of patiently waiting, Jakob was finally able to feel his son kick from the outside at 22 weeks 1 day and I had my first "take your breath away" kick at 22 weeks 2 days. Such a great feeling!

Cravings? Sweets Sweets Sweets!! I just can't get enough. I am currently noshing on butterscotch chips. Gross right? Nope- delicious! This month you can also add pasta and bread to the crave list. Pretty much anything from the carb family will do. I have my glucose tolerance test in two weeks and will be thoroughly enjoying living the carbville lifestyle until that day when I fail the test miserably and begin my new diabetic lifestyle.. terrifying.

How have we been planning for the baby? In the past month we have registered at Babies "R" Us and begun working on the nursery. We have the room painted and have a few pieces of furniture put together. While we still need a dresser/changing table, we do have a crib, bookcase and rocker all set up and ready to go. Getting the room together is really making things feel real- so exciting!

Baby pics? See this post for a few pics of the little man.

Belly pics? Here are pics from 20, 22, and 24 weeks respectively.

While everyone I know can tell that I am sporting an obvious preggo belly, I am still waiting for the first stranger to acknowledge the bump.

Am I wearing maternity clothes yet? I finally jumped into a few preggo tops this week. Most of my other t-shirt and tops were getting a bit short to wear out in public. I'm still rocking my bella band with my regular pre-preggo jeans but I imagine that I am nearing the end of that road and will be pulling up my first pair of elastic waist pants any day now.

In other belly news, I had to say goodbye to my beloved belly button ring a few weeks ago. It's been a fun 11 years.. we have had some great times together. I will miss you.

There ya have it!