Baby Squirt Update ~ 18 weeks

This week has been super busy as far as baby Squirt is concerned.

On Monday we went to a special doctor for a special ultrasound to check baby’s heart. It wasn’t 3d like we were hoping, but it was still a wonderfully LONG ultrasound, and we got to see closeups on all of the baby’s pieces parts. Baby’s feet are about an inch long now! The baby is measuring on schedule and weighing 8 ounces!

As far as the baby, everything looks very healthy as far as the doctor could tell, but as I’m still a bit early, he wants to see me (and baby) back in a month to double check.

Our baby’s gender has become a pretty hot topic among our friends and family, so I’d just like to clear up some things that we might not have stated so well from the beginning.

1. As of Monday, we now know what gender baby we are having.

2. Our baby’s gender is a secret and will remain so until birth. This applies to everyone, even our immediate families. We have our reasons for wanting it this way, and we would ask that you respect us in this decision. Feel free to guess, but please try to honor the fact that we want to surprise you, and don’t try to finagle or trick us into telling you.

3. We have been, and will continue to, call our baby by the nickname Squirt. If you didn’t read our earlier blog post, the nickname comes from the fact that at one point our baby was the size of a lemon. This nickname was given to baby by Russ. It has nothing to do with Finding Nemo. It has never been a gender-specific nickname, nor is it now meant to be a *hint* toward the gender of the baby. Boy or girl, baby’s nickname is Squirt.

As far as Squirt’s mommy…I’ll be posting a bit more in a separate post, but…I’m doing pretty well. I’m feeling baby move on a daily basis which is both reassuring and wonderful! I think knowing the baby’s gender has helped me bond a little bit more with baby and most of the time I’m really loving being a mommy. However, while it might not seem like it to others, this pregnancy has progressed to a point where often I feel pretty uncomfortable….evenings especially. I’m having a ton of back pain, frequent-to-the-point-of-annoying bathroom trips, swelling extremities, and very early braxton hicks. On the bright side though, it’s now getting warm enough that I can take almost daily walks and wear more comfortable clothes and shoes!

Along with having the nursery set up, my mom and I were able to go to Target and BabiesRUs and finalize my baby registry! Woohooo!!! (more info on that to come as well…)

Now it’s just waiting the next five months….