Family Friday: 18 Weeks

Warning: Family Friday posts are an open and honest update of our pregnancy.  There will be references to lady parts, internal organs, and bodily functions.  There will also be photos of baby bumps and ultrasounds.  If any of this bothers you, please stop reading now.

18 Weeks

THE BABY:

 -  The baby is about 5.5 inches long from head to rump

 -  is yawning, hiccuping, sucking, and swallowing

 -  is rolling, twisting, kicking, and punching

 -  his/her ears, which start out on the neck, are now in their final position on the head

 -  has blood vessels visible through his/her thin skin

The photo in the middle is from an interactive feature about how a woman's body makes room for a baby

from the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry website.  I look fairly close to the illustration for how far along I am so I thought it would be fun to do an overlay with Photoshop :)

WEIGHT:  +5 pounds total.  That's another whole pound gain from last week.  I'm pregnant, not fat.  I'm pregnant, not fat.  I'm pregnant, not fat.  I'm pregnant, not fat.  I'm pregnant, ... :)

BODY:  Change all around my body this week!  My waist is now at +2.5 inches.  My lower belly is now at +2.5 inches.  My hips are now at +1 inch.  I still hate that my hips are getting bigger!

THE GOOD:  1) First movement!  I really haven't felt any movement yet but a couple days ago while participating in an aerobics class I felt a definite-no-doubt-about-it somersault from Baby G!  Maybe he/she liked the lively music or just needed to change position but it was a pretty incredible feeling that made me stop for a minute in awe.  Hopefully that means I'll be feeling more movement more often now.  2)  Energy.  I feel great!  I'm waking up earlier and have little or no fatigue during the day.  3) Sex drive.  I first mentioned my increased sex drive in the 13 Weeks post.  It actually calmed down a little in the past few weeks but this week it is raging in full force!  Thank goodness Johnnie gets home from his trip in a few days ;)

THE BAD:  1) Headaches... as usual.  But only one bad one this week.   2) Constipation... again.  I already increased my fiber intake from the last time this hit.  My body must have gotten used to it so I had to start adding more fiber to my diet.  3) Round Ligament Pain.  This is normal but uncomfortable abdominal pain that is the result of ligaments stretching in order to support and hold the growing uterus.  The sharp split-second pains get me most when I go from sitting to standing and when I roll over at night in bed.

FOOD:  Eggs have made a comeback!  I couldn't even think about eggs in the first trimester without getting sick, but now I'm going through over a dozen a week.  Cheese is amazing right now and I'm putting it on everything!

EXERCISE:  Another good week for exercise.  I tried a Step class at the gym that was steady, low-intensity and a lot of fun!  Part of the class was standing aerobics which is when Baby G rolled over.  I am building up my jogging milage again slowly.  When I first got pregnant, 5 miles was my "easy" run.  I am now up to 1.5 miles.  I have my heart set on running a 5K race (3.1 miles) within the next few months... we'll see how things progress.

OTHER NOTES: We find out if Baby G is a boy or a girl on May 18th. We'll be having a small family gender reveal party that weekend (thanks to Skype) and post it on the blog after that. I do have a preference as to what I hope Baby G will be but I honestly do not have any gut feelings at all as to whether it's a boy or girl! I did do the needle gender test on myself years ago and some family and friends know the results of that ;) I have a high success rate with that test on others so I'm curious to see if it's right for me!

I added a poll at the top right corner of this website so that you can enter your guess as to what Baby G will be!  There are many old wives tales out there about guessing baby gender.  Here are some tidbits about me (based on some of those wives tales) in case you need help guessing:
 - You can all see in my photos and from my weight and body notes how I am carrying
 - the baby's heart rate is currently in the 150's
 - my hair (on head and legs) and my nails are growing rapidly
 - my skin is dry (despite living in a tropical climate!) and breakouts are minimal
 - my energy is great and I have very little fatigue
 - I'm craving sweet and spicy things rather than salty or sour foods
 - I had horrible nausea from weeks 6 to 13
 - I conceived in January at the age of 34

*******

Somewhere on this globe, every ten seconds, there is a woman

giving birth to a child.  She must be found and stopped."

~Sam Levenson

Related Posts:

Announcement	21 Weeks	32 Weeks
11 Weeks	22 Weeks	33 Weeks
12 Weeks	23 Weeks	34 Weeks
13 Weeks	24 Weeks	35 Weeks
14 Weeks	25 Weeks	36 Weeks
15 Weeks	26 Weeks	Maternity Photos
16 Weeks	27 Weeks	The Birth
17 Weeks	28 Weeks
18 Weeks	29 Weeks
19 Weeks	30 Weeks
20 Weeks	31 Weeks