Halfway to Being a Mommy

Well, a little more than halfway as I will officially be 21 weeks in just two days; however, this week I am 20 weeks and halfway there!! I am so excited to make it this far and am discovering new and exciting things all the time that are making me even more excited for the future. Wednesday Andy and I went for our 20 week ultrasound and check-up. It was exciting but not as exciting as our last two ultrasounds since we already knew that we were having a little girl. We did tell the ultrasound technician that we had already had one from a friend and that we were pretty confident it was a girl. She went right to the area, found the "parts" and confirmed again that it is a little girl. She also did a quite in-depth look at her head, spine, kidneys, bladder, heart, and extremeties and said everything looks good and that from all we can see now there are no abnormalities.

It was so neat to see Emory on the screen this time because I could actually see AND feel her at the same time! I saw her punch my stomach a few times. She loves to keep her arms up around her face and eyes and even in a "boxer" kind of motion. She also kind of yawned at one point and smacked her lips a few times again. It is so neat to really see her in there, but at the same time a little bitter sweet since she is "so close but so far away" for lack of a better cheesy term.

I was especially interested this appointment in my weight gain since I have grown A LOT in the past week. Over the 4th of July weekend Andy and I really noticed my protruding belly and now it just seems to get bigger and bigger. I had gained a total of 13 pounds and Dr. Garner said this was a great weight gain for how far along I am. I then had to (ugh) get another Pap Smear since I am on a 6 month rotation after my previous diagnosis and removal of cervical dysplasia.

Besides that update, all is about the same. This week our cook has been out at work and so we have been trading off between 2-3 people covering the responsibilities. I had one disaster this week that almost set off the fire alarms, but we were able to get the smoke cleared out before they went off (thank heavens). It only smelled like burned food for about 4-5 hours :P I am so happy our cook will be back on Monday! Cooking for 90-100 children is not easy!

Overall, I'm feeling great this week and ready for the next 20! (almost 19). Tomorrow we are going to register and are very excited about this. I am also in week 2 of 6 weeks of my two classes; these are my last two of the program that are mandatory. The two I have signed up for this fall are electives, so I don't think I will feel as pressured as I do now.

Below are my two 20 week pictures, though they were taken today at 20 weeks 5 days.

Growing more and more every day! Sorry this blog is a bit boring...hopefully more interesting things will come in the next few weeks. Until then, I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Psalms 1:24
"Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD."