letters to baby : half way to meeting our miracle

Christmas weekend marks our 20 weeks/five months, and half way to meeting our baby face to face! I can honestly say I have loved being pregnant. It is everything I thought it would be and more. I was very sick for the first trimester like most women are. The first eight weeks I didn't really get off the couch unless to go to work, and my diet was purely fluids. After that, it was purely carbs. I couldn't stand the sight or smell of meat or vegetables for those three months, so naturally all cooking on my end ceased, including most of the grocery shopping too. Poor Mitch! He was truly amazing though. He picked up where I left off and kept our house clean/organized, cooked and much more. I am so thankful for him. After the first trimester was over I started eating somewhat regular again. My energy came back and I was back to feeling myself!

My last post was up until week five of our pregnancy, so I will pick up where I left off. As I mentioned above, I was fairly ill for the first three months. Those symptoms started at exactly week six until week 14. In between those weeks we had two ultrasounds at our clinic (week seven and nine). On week seven we were able to see the heartbeat as well as week nine. I couldn't believe the difference in growth within just two weeks. At week 10 I went off all of my medication which was such a huge relief. We were also discharged from the clinic at that time.

We ended up choosing to go through the IPS testing at week 13 and 15 which tests for a small amount of chromosomal abnormalities such as down syndrome and trisomy 18. We took advantage of this test which consists of one ultrasound and two bouts of blood work to simply have another look at our babe! We also figured that if we were in a higher risk category for anything, then we could have the proper resources in place by the time the baby arrived. Ours came back negative and in the low risk category, so we were super thankful for those results.

Starting at around 17 weeks I was able to start feeling those flutters and light jabs. How incredible is that??? Our little one has been a mover and a shaker since the beginning so actually feeling that has been so wonderful. The jabs and rolls became more pronounced just before 19 weeks. On our actual 19 week mark, I was lying in bed and actually saw the baby move! Mitch immediately put his hand there and felt the baby for the first time.

Our 20 week ultrasound was by far the most incredible. Mitch was able to be there as he was in school for the previous two. The baby was SO active and looked fantastic. The ultrasound technician was great and showed us everything. We were able to see so many different parts in the brain as well as all four chambers and valves in the heart. So incredible! We received our results a day after and they were perfect. Praise God!