24 Weeks (Almost)

Tomorrow I will be 24 weeks. A part of me thinks the time has flown... another part of me wonders if the time could creep any slower. As of my appointment this morning, Little Miss had a 160 heartbeat (up from 140 last week, and 129 the week before that). It seems like she is constantly moving, except when Todd tries to feel her. He's felt her a couple times, but not the non-stop movement she does when I'm trying to fall asleep! It's crazy how frequently she moves (and how impressive it is now... she HATES my badge at work and seems to kick at it ALL DAY LONG). I know Brooks moved a lot (especially at the end, where he'd constantly stretch out straight), but she flutters, kicks, and punches almost non-stop (not to mention gets the hiccups 2-3 times a day)! AND she sits right on top of my bladder. And not in an "I have to pee" kind of way, but in a "I have a catheter kind of uncomfortableness."

Although you certainly WOULD NOT KNOW IT by looking at the very obvious beach ball I have protruding from me, I have only gained 11 lbs so far. I'm impressed (and pleased), but I have no idea where this large bump came from without the added weight... because nothing fits... and my chest and butt look ginormous to me. haha. Thankfully, I have no stretch marks [knocking on wood, saying a silent prayer/thank you] and as of this week, still have a belly button! lol

In keeping up with the larger cities around the US, Huntsville now offers imaging centers where you can schedule non-diagnostic ultrasounds outside of your doctor's office. Since they are relatively new in town, the prices are very competitive with an actual doctor's visit... plus you get a LOT more time with a technician than you do at the doc. That being said, I scheduled our 4D though them. For $25 more than our doctor charges (and about 15 minutes longer!), you get TWO 4D sessions to see Lil Bit. Soooo... my first appointment is this Friday. The next will be sometime around 30 weeks (any longer and it's hard to see since the baby starts to rapidly outgrow her confined dwelling) and we are taking Brooks. He is fascinated with "his baby" and talks about her all the time. It is precious and I hope he is this excited when she makes her debut!!

Speaking of debut, it's crazy how anxious we were to get stuff ready for Brooks' arrival, and here it is past halfway and we don't even have a crib. She does have some clothes (OMGOSH don't get me started on the amazing cuteness of little girl clothing!), but other than that, and what hand-me-downs we have left from Brooks, her room is bare. Part of that was because we decided to replace the carpet in our back bedrooms and it just got put in this week. Another part is, we seem to be having WAY more fun/indecisiveness on designing a little girl's room instead of a little boys room--not that his wasn't fun, don't get me wrong. I loved every minute of it. But I was never into planes, trains, and automobiles... or random things like construction, so his room was harder for me to picture. Her's, on the other hand, I had secretly envisioned all along. Not to mention, Pinterest is now a "thing" with millions of ideas--whereas, we didn't have that with Brooks.