Week 18: Sweet Potato

Dear Bun,

We had our big ultrasound last week, and found out that you are a BOY!  Apparently, you are very proud of that because you flashed us your boy parts first thing and kept your legs open for most of the ultrasound.  You are now 8 oz and measuring right on track to the day of where you should be!  You were moving around like crazy, the ultrasound tech had a hard time getting pictures of you!  One time, I put my hand behind my head to get a better look at the screen, and we saw you do the exact same thing, it was so neat!  Then we saw you clapping, and you got the hiccups too.  I have been feeling you more and more, especially at night.

Here you are at 18 wks:

And here I am:

This is the last ultrasound we will probably have of you.  They will only do one again if for some reason you are not growing or are growing too fast.  Some people choose to have 3D/4D ultrasounds done, but we decided not to.

I have started thinking about your nursery this week and have some ideas for what I would like to do.  Sorry mister, it will not be sports related.  You will probably have some sports theme in your room for the rest of your childhood once you are old enough to care, so I decided not to start that now!  I also selected and booked your photographer for your 1st year photoshoots.  I am really excited about her!

One of my biggest surprises so far (besides not getting morning sickness) has been my lack of emotional swings.  I always heard that pregnancy will make you cry one minute and be a raging witch the next, but so far, I have just felt this overwhelming excitement, joy, and desire to be more introspective with my thoughts and feelings.  It seems like I am always in a good mood and feeling great which I am so thankful for.  I warned John about the pregnancy hormones I keep reading/hearing about but so far, I think I have done pretty good :)  I know, I still have some time, but wanted to record my feelings as of now. 

My biggest complaint (so far) has been the amount of unsolicited advice that we both recieve regularly.  I want to belive that people have the best intentions in sharing thier experiences and opinions, but there are so many personal choices to make and everyone's situation is different.  I have actually enjoyed navigating the land of baby things and, while it is overwhelming at times, there are so many wonderful resources available that it has been pretty easy for me to determine what is right for us and what is not.  I am thankful to be going through pregnancy in the age of the internet, so reviews and comparisons are so easy to see.  I am also lucky to have a network of trusted mommy friends here that I can reach out to whenever I am trying to decide between a video monitor or a motion montior for example.  In the end, we all want to make the best choices for our children and I am confident on our ability to research and plan every choice so we can do just that.

Love you bun!

Mom

PS I think your dad will be writing some to you too now!