Well...I'm not sure I see a huge difference in the size of my "bump" now and back at 15 weeks...but I certainly do feel a difference. I've accidentally bumped into things with my belly quite a bit this past week, especially, not realizing my girth. The "tight" feeling in my belly has also been leading me to rub lotion into it a lot, which I know is probably due to the growth spurt that the doctors told me would take place between 16 and 20 weeks. It'll be interesting to see if there is a more discernible difference to the bump in a couple more weeks.



A friend asked me earlier this week if I'm still feeling overwhelmingly blessed with this pregnancy, or if I'm starting to have complaints.

The answer is yes.

Every day, I'm definitely still in awe of the gift of life with which I've been blessed. Seeing and feeling Baby DeBo grow inside of me is the greatest experience of my life, truly. Sure, I still have my moments where I'm waiting for the hammer to fall, to receive the seemingly inevitable news of another unhappy ending, to have this wonderful blessing taken away. But luckily, these moments, these thoughts, are fewer and farther between as time goes on. And don't worry: I'm definitely not "wasting" my pregnancy by being afraid all the time. I know that whatever is meant to happen will happen, regardless of whether I'm prepared for it or not.

Even though I feel incredibly blessed, I still have my complaints: the tiredness, the lack of sleep, the having to pee all. the. time. It's funny how those "usual suspects" of typical pregnancy complaints don't take away from my thankfulness and utter happiness in continuing to have a healthy pregnancy. It actually helps me feel normal, rather than guilty, that the two can so easily co-exist.

-Em

This morning we had our 16-week ultrasound at a high risk specialist in Grand Rapids. The Baby wasn't too happy about being interrupted, so it was difficult to get good pictures. The sonographer kept saying, "It's busy" again and again, as an explanation for the Baby's attempts to repeatedly evade the ultrasound device. She switched to "4-D" (a 3-D ultrasound + movement) mode for a bit, but we were only able to see the back of the head today.

The Baby is measuring right on for 16 weeks, and currently weighs 4 oz. My blood pressure is still doing well, and the doctor didn't seem at all concerned about it at this time.

The next ultrasound will be in a month, at 20 weeks, and (if Baby is feeling cooperative) we might be able to find out if it's a boy or girl at that time. And, hopefully, we'll be able to see more on the 4-D ultrasound then as well.

Here are a few pictures from today's ultrasound:


Laying face up, here is the Baby's face profile


Here, the Baby is laying face down, and you can see the head and body (the spine is VERY visible)


Admittedly, this one is a little scary-looking. The Baby is facing us in this picture, and because s/he doesn't have much body fat yet, the face looks a bit skeletal (or alien-like).


Here's the back of the Baby's head and back (you can also see his/her left arm and hand) in 3-D

-Em

We got off on a pretty slow start with documenting this pregnancy in pictures, so I want to start remedying that now, by taking pictures of my progress every couple of weeks. A friend told me I'd be glad that I have these later on, even if I don't always feel like taking them now. I know she's right.

So, here goes...the first belly shots of this pregnancy, at 15 weeks:





Can I just tell you how scary it is posting a picture of my belly exposed? I wasn't planning on doing those, because I didn't have a particularly pretty belly to begin with, but I got over myself and my fear and just did it. (Deep breaths... )

-Em