24 weeks = Viability!!!

Yay!!!  Major milestone!!!  Especially for those of us in the IF world.  So excited to know that there's a chance that Baby Boy could survive if he was born today and that the doctors would do all they could to help him.

This is a really crappy picture from my phone camera and, yes, it's in my work bathroom, but it's a significant milestone and I don't have a full-length mirror at home so this is it for a bump-date.  :)  You can definitely see the soccer-ball sized uterus that is there at this point!

We've also made SIGNIFICANT progress in the nursery this week!  It's completely cleaned out, the ceiling has been painted, the blue trim is almost completely done (one wall left), the shelves in the closet are partially painted, and the window has been completely cleaned out and recaulked.  We're hoping to finish painting completely this weekend and Dennis wants to install the hard wood floors this weekend, but we'll see if we actually get that far - it seems a bit ambitious.  My parents are coming 3 weeks from tomorrow to visit and the goal is to have the floors done and the crib and dresser set up so they can see it.

Here's a sneak peek of just the color (the shelves were not started at this point).  It's Sweet Bluette by Benjamin Moore.  All the wall and room decorations are going to be red and navy accents against the light color with dark wood floors and furniture.

 

I've also been going nuts on Pinterest (which Dennis probably LOVES), so the weekend was spent on two craft projects for the nursery while he was patching up the walls and painting the ceiling.  The one craft involves his name, so you only get a link to the project at this point.  The main letter is navy with the smaller letters in red and I didn't add an "extra" item, but the plan is to put it over his crib.  The other craft project was a set of closet organizers to help with all the clothes we're already accumulating.  I can't wait to see all the cute, tiny stuff hanging in his closet!  The animals were bought pre-painted at Michaels, along with the doorknob hangers.  Dennis used his Dremel to cut out the sides for hanging (he always gets roped into my Pinterest projects somehow...) and the rest was painting and gluing.  I'm happy with how they turned out!

I also bought a shelf from Etsy and have another project that I'm going to try to make myself this weekend.  I love that it's all coming together!!!

We had our last ultrasound for a while on Saturday and Little Man is measuring right on track.  He was using my back as a bed and laying on his tummy with his butt up in the air so there were no profile pictures.  He was kicking away throughout the ultrasound though, so just as active as usual!  Dennis felt him give a good solid kick while we were waiting for the tech to come back and release us, which was a first.  No wonder I can feel his kicks so much now - his "little" feet are an inch and a half long now.  The tech referred to them as puppy-dog feet because they seem so large in comparison to the rest of him.  The average is two inches at the end of the second trimester, so he's either on track or his feet are a little bit bigger than normal.  I'm the shortest in my family at 5'8" and Dennis is the tallest in his family at a few inches taller than me, so if he grows into them later it will definitely be my genes!  My brothers are 6'5" and 6'6" so he would have to grow quite a bit to catch up to them.  Here's the only picture today of his cute lil' feet!  It was so neat to see his toes wiggling!

5 months pregnant!

Wow, is it really 5 months already - time is flying lately!

Placenta update - the placenta is definitely at the top now and I was taken off of pelvic rest two weeks ago!

Blood pressure update - everything is MUCH better (120/70 yesterday)!  The low-sodium diet really seems to be working and I'm completely off of bed rest now.  The only problem is I'm still craving sour-cream-and-onion Pringles which are off limits.  :(    I'm going to want a whole container of them, along with a Diet Coke right after delivery!

Nursery update - we've started working on it which is a HUGE step in the right direction.  We got rid of all of the furniture in there and have mostly cleaned it out.  The big thing in the room now is the huge box with our crib that my parents bought us!  I'm so excited to see that put together!!!  There are still a few things on the shelves in the closet and on the floor, but my plan is to tackle that tomorrow on my day off and be done with that.  Dennis has taken down the divider on the ceiling between the room and closet and we bought a sample of the paint we like, called Sweet Bluette by Benjamin Moore.  Maybe I'll get a chance to put it on the walls tonight (no VOC paint is great) to get a feel for the color - it's a lot paler than Dennis expected.  This weekend will be at the very least painting the ceiling and patching places the former owners left a mess.  Both of those will be up to Dennis though...

Bumpdate:

4 months

5 months - definitely getting bigger!

I have people everywhere now asking me when the baby is due.  Some are surprised when I say that it's not until June.  Also, a lot of people are mentioning that it's a boy since I'm all belly and love to hear me say they're right.

Other big news - I saw Baby Boy move for the first time today!!!  I happened to be looking down thinking how hungry I was and saw my belly jump in just one spot to the right of my (now outie) belly button.  I think it was even more exciting than feeling him move for the first time!

Latest Ultrasound

The first day of bed rest was not very restful...

The day started out fine, but there are some complications with working from home because of our division policy of not allowing people to telecommute for an extended period of time...  Senior management is compromising and I can work Monday through Wednesday from home, have to take sick leave for Thursday, and I'm already off on Friday.  What a headache.  When I find out what the doctor decides on Friday for allowing me to work in the office, my situation will be re-evaluated at work too.  Aargh!  Dennis and I discussed the various options that are possible and how we're going to address them so we'll see what happens.  When he got home from work, it was off to our 20 week anatomy scan...

We get to the radiologist and find out we're not only at the wrong location, they somehow have me scheduled for NEXT Friday.  To top it off, they don't even have appointments that late so it was a major issue in the scheduling department on their end.  After speaking to a manager, they did get me in (thank goodness!), but it was definitely a rushed ultrasound.  They got all the shots they needed to, but there was no lingering and just watching Little Man move around.  All that really matters is that he's doing well (measuring 20w3d so only two days ahead now of the official estimate).  And some GREAT news - she said that the placenta is now at the top of the uterus!!!!!!  Which hopefully means I get to get off of pelvic rest when I see the doctor again next week.

After the ultrasound we went to the grocery store to find lower sodium items.  It took hours looking at all the labels, but it will be worth it.  I can't believe how much sodium there is in everything!

Also, as a side note, just lowering sodium and keeping my feet up for half a day, I lost a pound and a half from yesterday morning to this morning.  Definitely losing some water weight!!  No pain in my legs either.  Yay!

So, I leave you with the cutest photo from today...  Little Man was showing off his flexibility by putting his feet above his head!  :)

Another fun update: we chose his name within five minutes of finding out he's a he.  We got confirmation this week that my three cousins that are having babies before me are not using a name beginning with the same initial so he officially has a name.  Sorry though, you're all being kept as much in the dark as our parents and Jacob!