19 Weeks Prego

Today I cooked a baby. (No, not in a morbid cannibalistic sort of way--as a pregnant mother). And that was about all that I accomplished today. Sure I got a few necessities out of the way--some laundry, made my bed, washed dishes; but in the grand scheme of my to-do list, I didn't do squat--except cook a baby. And that's okay. I think that's one of the biggest perks of pregnancy. You can spend an entire doing nothing tangible, yet when people ask what you did that day, you can simply reply, "I manufactured some fingers for my baby. You?"

Nineteen weeks and we survived the ultrasound without finding out the gender. The waiting game has officially started, and I'm really at peace with our decision. During the ultrasound the tech never had us look away, but by the end, she admitted that she knew the sex of the baby. I thought for sure she'd make us look away. I was kinda disappointed that I didn't figure it out, and I was kinda upset that she didn't make sure we didn't figure it out; but the end result was what we wanted, so I guess I shouldn't be upset. I can tell you that my imagination was running wild as the pictures popped up on the screen. I was sure I saw boy parts over and over, but I know I was just wanting to see that. In reality, the times I thought I saw stuff, we weren't even in the right area.

I'm getting more and more excited about this transition to two babies. I feel like we're in a really good place right now to add another little one to the family. Baby #1 (who's not really a baby at all anymore) has fallen into a good routine with us. She's a delight to be around, and she's a big help. I feel empowered to bring on the challenge of two kiddos knowing that my first one has merged into life so well, and (dare I say) life is pretty easy again. I'm all about challenges, and I'm ready to face this next one head on and prove to myself once again that I can do it (with God's grace, of course).

As for the joys of pregnancy--19 weeks has been the biggest reminder thus far of the fun that awaits me in my third trimester. I've already started getting up slower (moving too fast pulls muscles in my lower abs); I've been waking at random times during the night and not been able to fall asleep right away (which is a genius way to prepare for nursing and nighttime feedings; I was just hoping for another couple of months of good sleep before I crashed into remembering what it was like to wake up throughout the night); I've started weighing the pros and cons of any activity that requires physical movement to judge whether or not all that effort is worth moving my body; etc. I've also begun pumping myself up for losing all of my baby weight this time--kept a nice 10 lbs from the last baby, and I don't want to repeat that again. My hubby is finishing up P90X, and I'm pretty sure I'll be doing something similar as soon as possible after I've healed. I'm too old to believe that I can just naturally lose the weight anymore.

As for baby nicknames, we're using baby ninja a lot more. My hubby can feel lil' ninja kick a lot (only English nerds like me will appreciate that link ;-) now. And my 19 week email said baby should be measuring 6 inches from crown to rump, but the ultrasound put lil' ninja at 7 inches, so we're a little ahead of schedule :) During the entire ultrasound, it looked like baby was trying to suck its thumb. So cute! And my email tells me that baby's five senses are developing so much so that it may hear my voice now! Isn't pregnancy a miracle? It really is.