Week #22 Update

Um, holy cow! Have you seen the ticker at the top of the blog? It's so weird to see visually how far along I actually am pregnancy-wise!

Things got a whole lot more "real" this week in more ways than one! To start with, it was still a holiday week and I only worked 1 day - Thursday. On New Years Day I was out to lunch with my mom when Ramin called me and told me he'd found an awesome deal on KSL for a crib bedding set, complete with matching rug - all from Pottery Barn! Don't ask me why but early on in the pregnancy I developed an obsession with Pottery Barn rugs. I just wanted a rug so badly in the nursery and after a few failed attempts at getting a nice used set, this set popped up on KSL. I talked it over with my mom and while we both thought it was more on the "boyish" side, we agreed that we could spruce it up a bit for a girl if we needed to. We could add more red accents and bows, etc.

I had Ramin call the lady and within a few hours we were on our way to Cedar Hills (near Alpine) to pick it all up for $80! Such a steal!  We got the AWESOME rug (usually retails for at least $200 alone), the crib bumper, crib sheet, dust ruffle (skirt) and TWO valences. All of pieces are embroidered (minus the sheet of course) and the rug actually looks 3-dimensional to me. It's so high quality I'm just in love! I don't even want to think of the amount of money we'd have to spend to buy all of it new....in fact, buying new never crossed our minds.

Here's the set:

Earlier in the week I'd also made some of my own custom decor items for the wall. I still want to incorporate a nursery rhyme theme into this new animal safari theme (it CAN be done)....and I originally used a green cardstock that I had on hand. Comparing the pictures to the actual color of green used in the bedding, it doesn't quite work out.

I think instead I'll go with a BLUE background! Why?  Well.....because this week we also found out at our big ultrasound that we're having a BABY BOY!!!

Yesterday we had our 22-week prenatal appointment and then headed over for the ultrasound. My prenatal appointment went just fine, albeit very quickly so that they could get me over to the next one, apparently those Maternal Fetal Medicine folks don't like waiting. It was ironic because we actually waited about 20-25 minutes before they called our name. If other appointments go the same way that ours did, I can understand why.

We got into the dark ultrasound room and the tech had me lay on the cushioned table. I told her that I had a full bladder because everyone had told me to have one before going in....she told me it most likely wouldn't help and would in fact, hinder the pictures. I was relieved to hear this because I really had to go! She had a first look around to check my cervix and when she couldn't really see very well she told me to go to the bathroom. So I did and came back.

The next little while was fun because she pushed around looking at various parts of the baby's body and measuring things. At this point we didn't know what it was yet but we got to see it's feet and legs squirm around and kick.

We also got to see it's face, measure it's head and even look inside it's brain! I was amazed at that part because I had no idea we would be able to see his actual brain! Below are profile shots of his head.

This is supposed to be his face and lips, but Ramin and I are baffled by it, we can't figure it out :P

The main technician we had did a great job but she was having a hard time finding and measuring everything she needed to, including the heart, because the baby was scrunched up in a nice little ball for most of the ultrasound. It didn't help that he was so low down where I have a tummy pouch - it kept getting in the way too I think, although all of the technicians and doctors were nice enough not to focus on that :P  She ended up calling in another technician who came in quickly and found and measured everything else. As she was done she asked "Is that all of it?" to the first technician and before she could answer I yelped "We still need to find out what it is!" :) The first girl said she thought she may have seen it but wasn't sure...but then the second girl quickly found what they needed to see and they snapped the first picture I posted - clearly a boy :)

They also made us a DVD of the entire ultrasound...one day it will be fun to watch it with the little one so he can see how he started out and see how much trouble he gave us during that ultrasound :P

It was so much trouble in fact, that the doctor who reviewed everything had trouble seeing the heart clearly for herself, or at least getting a good picture of it....so she had ANOTHER doctor come in and check. We had a total of 4 people come in to check out baby boy and while none of them really got the best picture of the heart that they wanted, all of them were satisfied that they did see everything within the heart that they wanted to see - no need for us to come back and check again....phew!

All in all it took 2 hours for this entire ultrasound, something we were not expecting. It was also rather painful for me as they had to dig down hard on the area where I just had my yeast infection rash. That skin is extremely sensitive and each time they pressed down my skin would tear and stretch. I'm also left with some nice bruising under my belly as well....I can feel some pain every time I sit down. But, of course it's all worth it!

Such a great week - we're really getting the nursery together and now we finally know what we're having!! We are so excited that baby is healthy and moving around....it was just beyond amazing to me to see him moving around so much and to know how big he is! They told me he is measuring at 1 pound 2 ounces and measured at 22 weeks 2 days. Of course, I'm happy for that measurement because it aligns very closely with my own measurement of 22 weeks, 4 days :)

How far along: 22 weeks, 5 days

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I was up for sure....in fact I think I was up 7 pounds from my last appointment. But, it has been 6 weeks since the last appointment. My mom commented to me that there always seems to be that one month where you really grow a lot, let's hope that I don't have any more like this :P

Wedding Ring on?:  YES, although it has been getting slightly tighter.

Major Symptoms: The hip pain I'd been having has disappeared the last two nights and I believe it's because I'm trying out a new technique while sleeping. I'm trying to avoid crossing my ankles because they puts my hips out of alignment. I really think it's working because I've been able to sleep pain free :)
Stretch marks: Still sprouting 
Sleep: Pretty good this week
Best moment last week: SEEING BABY BOY!!
Movement: Today I think I finally experienced some real kicks! After seeing how low down baby is and knowing the general area of where to expect things, I definitely felt some light taps earlier today while Ramin and I were at the Olympic Speed Skating trials.
Food cravings/aversions: Nothing unusual

Belly button - in or out? Still in
Labor signs: Nope
What I miss: As weird as it sounds, I'm starting to miss the once-a-night-pee :P I'm starting to get up more and more frequently to go potty at night and I usually end up going twice a night. As friends have said, it's all in preparation for when baby arrives.
What I am looking forward to: More kicks from baby! 
Milestones: The BIG ultrasound! Knowledge of a healthy baby. Knowing that we're having a BOY!