Hearing the Heartbeat Round II - Month 5

week 17
Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.

I'm now entering month five!!! So crazy. And I've gained close to ten pounds. Zoiks. Fun stuff. But I feel really good (just not on the days after playing volleyball at 9:15 p.m.) Just two more late games left until I retire for a few months.

Me (17 weeks) in the bathroom at work taking a pic for my brother

Now, for the cool stuff. Karl and I went in for our second doctor appointment with Dr. Druckman at Park Nicollet - St. Francis.

Things discussed -

1. Is it okay if I start taking calcium/magnesium? My legs have been cramping a lot and that happened last summer when I was low on cal/mag and these vitamins from Lifetime Fitness helped with that. Wanted to check first. Doc says that stuff won't make a difference but yes, I can...and I should drink more water.

2. Do I really have to avoid soft cheeses and some of these other foods I have been reading about? Doc says use good judgement and I'll be fine. I cooked with cojito cheese the other night. And I seem to be okay still....

3. Is it normal to see stars and feel super faint a few times? Yes. This is the week/month in my pregnancy where my body is adjusting to all that. My heart is working harder. Blood is pumping more. Totally normal. But drink more water.

4. Do I need a flu shot? (Karl just had to ask this). Doc says YES. Grrr. I've never gotten one ever, nor have I ever had the desire to. But I had to think about baby here. Sigh. So I did. Arm hurts now. And did Karl? Oh...noooo...of course not.

5. Is it weird for things to come out of me from time to time? Doc says yes and to look forward to more weird yuck. Cool.

After all the questions, we heard Baby K's special little heartbeat and Karl filmed this time!!!!!!!! Listen in and watch. SO very cool!!!!!!

New food cravings: I LOVE FOOD, period. Anything really. I'm back to cooking a lot more and make sure I'm cooking up really good foods. I cooked with parsnips, kale and turnips for the first time. And it's weird but now when I go out for food, I realize I like my own cooking a lot better more times than not. I never thought I'd think that. But at least when I cook, I know everything that's going into the recipe.

Thoughts/Feelings: I'm getting more excited. I have some cool creative ideas for the nursery (hoping my younger brother and dad can help me make this a reality).

Yes, I do get scared and nervous still about the future. I worry about the losing major sleep part and losing that one-on-one time with Karl I love so much. I seriously love our marriage right now. I worry about money and wondering how we're going to afford it all. I worry about our health, baby's health and our parent's health. I want everyone to be around and I know how things can happen in an instant. I pray we all get to build many awesome memories together. I worry about the daycare part, but I swear something is going to work itself out.

But I get happy thinking about the three of us going to the park together or for nature walks. I get excited about getting our families together and just feeling the love and all that goodness. That seems to be outweighing the fears. Even though my pants are getting tighter and I'm slowly adjusting to my side profile, I just want baby to be healthy and can't wait to meet him/her.  

That's it for now! The big ultrasound is scheduled for Monday, November 28!!! But we won't be finding out the sex. Nope! Unless something pokes through...