Week 16

How far along? 16 weeks

Maternity clothes? Just pants, but I have worn a couple of sweaters too

Sleep? I'm normally a tummy sleeper, but this week its become uncomfortable as my belly has firmed up. All the literature says to sleep on your left side for optimal blood flow but its so uncomfortable! I wake up after an hour with a very sore left hip! I'm trying the body pillow, but it still hurts my left hip. Not sure what to do, but even if I don't sleep for the next 5 months, it is well worth it. : )

Best moment this week? This has been a FABULOUS weekend. So I have many 'bests' this week!

1. Having a great 16 week appointment today! As soon as the doppler touched my belly we could hear a strong heartbeat in the 150's. The nurse said she could hear baby moving all around too. : )

2. We completely gutted our basement! (When I say "we" I really mean Mr. Free). Mr. Free is such an amazing handyman. He has completely demoed it out and is currently working on framing our future family room! We are so excited for this additional space as we grow our family and love to entertain family and friends. (Many blog posts to come about that!)

3. We had the most incredible food weekend! It started with SantiCaliGon days this weekend. What's better than an onion blossom and funnel cake?! Then Sunday night we went to Fogo de Chao with our dear friends (I had been seriously craving some red meat...check!) and finished that off with Cold Stone. Then, this morning was the start of the infamous Pumpkin Spice Latte'! Mmmm....

4. The weather here in KC has been AMAZING!! High's in the 70's. AC is off, windows are open with the attic fan running. It's feeling like Fall which is my FAVORITE time of year!

Food cravings: Red meat and Mexican.

Gender: Team Green!

Belly button in or out? In

Movement? Last Friday I began feeling some flutters and little pokes down low. I can only feel it when Im sitting and learning slightly forward or curled up in the fetal position. Monday I was feeling it and Mr. Free pushed his hand right in to where it was at and swore he felt a little poke. I didn't believe him at first, but maybe he did! I can't wait for noticable 'outside' movement!

What I miss? Nothing : )

What I'm looking forward to: Starting to really look at baby gear. I bought a couple of neutral outfits this weekend, but now that we had a great appointment, I feel like I can look "for real".

Milestones: A great 16 week appointment!

I spoke with my OB about whether I can "relax" now, because I've still been freaking out. She assured me that I now can relax.

She explained that 1st trimester losses are from COMPLETELY different reasons than 2nd and 3rd trimester losses. Since I have successfully made it to the 2nd trimester, I have no indication or risk of losing this baby.

She said the only thing that they will monitor with me is the "increased" change of a heart defect since Im diabetic. (I put "increased" in quotes because my blood sugar has been in such tight control, I truly don't have an increased risk from a non-diabetic mommy, but I get monitored none the less).

She assured me that even if a heart defect appears, it usually corrects itself in utero and if not, may require surgery. She said the defects are usually not fatal. Which made me feel MUCH better.

Tomorrow I will go in for blood work to do the quad screening. This will give us the odds of our baby having a chromosonal problem or neural tube defect. We should hear results in about a week. This test can give false positives, but since we didn't do the first tri screening, we thought we'd do this to *hopefully* give us some reassurance.

In 4 weeks I will see the OB again for a regular 20 week check up, but will have my anatomy scan along with a fetal echocardiogram with the perinatologist down the hall. We will be able to see all the details of our little one and check for any type of defect.

Please be praying that our little one has developed correctly and will continue to do so. I know, statistically our baby isn't at an increased risk, but I just pray they truly are healthy.

I can't believe we have to wait another whole month to see our little one! We were so spoiled to get to see them every 2 weeks, and now it'll have been 2 months since we last saw them! I'm so thankful for those doppler checks. They keep me sane!