In Retrospect...

I just posted essentially the same thing as my last post. Good grief, pregnancy brain.

Theme! YAY!

I'm not sure if I posted this or not, but we've picked our nursery theme officially: FOREST! I didn't want to do the traditional "blue and soccer balls/baseballs/footballs" thing for our little Tommy. I found this great decal mural of a tree with an owl, squirrel, etc and showed Eric, who loved it too! We got it, and then today I shopped around online and found the PERFECT bedding set. So it's look like it will be green, tan, brown, blue, and all of that good stuff! It makes me happy, because it will be different from the norm. Right now, the neutral boy "in" look seems to be "Jungle"...not a huge fan.

My stepmother is amazing, I have to say. She straight up volunteered out of nowhere to buy us our stroller! When I told her what stroller we wanted, I let her know that it's a little bit pricey so she doesn't have to do it. Her response? OF COURSE she'd get it, and would we mind if she got us the pack and play as well? SUCH a relief.

We also bought our breast pump this week with a giftcard we received for Christmas. I got the Medela Pump In Style on the recommendation of nurses AND Jesscah. Expensive, but I'm stoked. I'm nervous that baby won't be able to latch since my nipples are so small, and I REALLY want to breastfeed. This might be the key for me.

All that's left in terms of big purchases would be the infant carseat/carrier, the bouncer, the swing, the diaper genie, and the mattress/crib set.

Can't believe how nicely it's all going :)

Nursery Time

So now we can get serious about the nursery, which is awesome. My stepmom is amazing and took a huge weight off of our shoulders by getting us our city mini stroller AND our pack and play, my dad is reimbursing us for the crib and glider, and Eric's parents are getting us our dresser. PHEW. Our last BIG purchases will be the breast pump, infant carrier (the convertible can wait until Eric is home next November), and any swing/bouncer we choose to get. This is a HUGE relief.

Now that we know Tommy/Teddy (I'm partial to Teddy! I know he's not Theodore, but Thomas Edward just naturally seems to lend itself to Teddy) is a Tommy/Teddy, we can decorate more. I'm not doing blues and all the obvious "Boy" things...we're going for a foresty theme. Hundred Acre Wood without Pooh Bear! We have a lot of owl paraphernalia that I'd like to use, and the bathroom is already green with part one of the quirky owl paintings. We've decided on this gorgeous tree mural decal because painting isn't realistic what with us moving within three years. Thankfully, there is a lot of green stuff out there because of gender neutrality, so shopping should be easy. I already have one set of crib sheets (thank you, USAF!), so I'll add a bunch more and the bumper once we find one. Bumpers make me nervous, but it's better than NOT having one in my opinion. I know they make breathable bumpers now, so I'll have to shop around.

Aaaaaaaanyway. Off to work on the registry some more. Almost done! Is it tacky to share the link on fb? I have so many friends and family that are scattered across the country, I feel like that's the best way to get it around without sending stupid direct emails like "hey, here's my registry. I'm selfish."

Hrm.

It's a Boy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thomas Edward Kowalski, we can't wait to meet you :)

17w2d

How far along? 17 weeks and 2 days

Total weight gain/loss: lots. let's not talk about that.

Maternity clothes? sweats. I LOVE SWEATS.

Sleep: I sleep heavily now. I can never get enough.

Best moment this week: finding the heartbeat on the home doppler the moment I turned it on :)

Movement: LOTS!

Food cravings: cheesesteak

Gender: I still want to say girl, but I'm honestly not sure anymore! Happy no matter what :)

What I miss: wine

What I am looking forward to: finding out the gender in a week!

Weekly Wisdom: naps might be something to look into

Milestones: easy doppler use and clear movement

What Do We Do? We SWIM!

Peanut is going to be the next Michael Phelps at this rate...SO MUCH movement today! He or she has also switched sides in the uterus, so now the doppler picks up the hb on the right side instead of the left. It was so strong and clear tonight, and Eric watched the doppler top out at 153 bpm :)

Everyone keeps saying that it's a girl; I'm not sure anymore. I think the only reason I'm doubting my initial instincts is because the ultrasound technician changed her vote to boy at the very last possible second during the NT scan. Now I have no idea what I'm having!

16 weeks 4 days

I'm so slacking on this thing. Ok, so an update! Baby is awesome, and moving around like nobody's business...I feel him or her all the time, fluttering away. Sometimes the movements are MUCH stronger. This little Peanut is going to give me some serious grief once the kicks become bigger.

Speaking of him/her, we will be finding out the sex of our Peanut on December 19th! For those keeping track...12 days! It's unbelievable :) How can we really be nearly halfway? Unreal, and I'm so thankful for every moment.

The sciatic pain is really dying down now, just like the doc predicted it would. The round ligament pain (RLP) is still present and especially so in the area of the past cyst pain. I find that weird, but whatever. If there were something amiss, we would have caught it on the 8 bazillion ultrasounds that I've had already.

Anyhoo, I've finally been able to find Peanut's heartbeat on the home doppler and I've been able to find it consistently at that! 158 bpm last time I was able to look at the number. It's amazing, and I got a recording. Press play, and baby's heartbeat begins at 0:26...before that is mine, for contrast:

We put the crib and glider together the other night...I'll post pics soon. It's really coming together in there.

Time to go eat!