20 Weeks

We are steadily growing here in the Murdock house!! At my appointment last week our due date was moved up by two weeks (hence the missing pictures) making our expected due date now March 14th (also Pi Day, Savanna's Birthday, and Disneyland Day!!). I am pretty excited to have jumped a couple of weeks ahead in the countdown... and pretty relieved that this due date also confirms that Michael is indeed the father (we had been in different states for 2 weeks at the time of conception according to my previous due date...). I have now gained 11 pounds, which is on the high end of normal. I feel good about my weight gain so far since I have found myself gaining nothing for about two weeks at a time, then 2-3lbs the third week. Last week was week #3 so we should be set for a little while? Who knows.

I have loved everything about being pregnant and feel so blessed to be having this experience. We found out this last week that we are having a boy and it has changed my thinking entirely. I really did not have a gender preference for our first baby but was POSITIVE that it was a girl. I even had a crazy experience driving on the freeway where I asked the baby its gender and a pink streamer came out of nowhere and got stuck on my windshield. Now I'm just positive that God has a sense of humor. Very funny Big Man.

At my ultrasound I told the technician that I had not felt the baby yet and she told me that the reason was due to the anterior placement of my placenta - most people's placentas are posterior, which makes it much easier to feel the baby. Maybe the baby just needed to hear what he was up against or something because I felt him two days later and have every day since. It's a very interesting feeling to be honest. A mix between digestion and a squeaky water balloon trying to find its way out of your stomach. I love it. I'm hoping that Michael will be able to feel him soon.

It was also just this last Thursday that I felt uncomfortable due to my increase in size for the first time. I tried to tie my shoe laces and found that breathing and tying at the same time just were not meant to be. You'd better believe I made it happen though. I'm not about to have the hubbie start tying my shoes for me at 20 weeks! My goal is to make it to 30 weeks without any assistance with footwear or care. The baby is just going to have to suck in.

As I grow it makes me interested to know exactly what this little one looks like. Supposedly he has less that 1% body fat right now but pretty much all of his organs are in place. The next several weeks will consist of development of those organs and lots of chub! Knowing that the baby is a boy and seeing me grow has made both Michael and I SO excited to start the baby ball rolling. We went on a registry date to Target on Saturday night and were able to register for pretty much everything we need minus a crib. We also bought our first little boy outfit last week and are now spending our time dreaming of names and nurseries. We have a couple of names that we like but haven't decided on anything yet. I think that we will probably bring our top 3-4 to the hospital and decide on his name once we see him. In the mean time, my dad has decided to call him by every apostle name known to man... I don't know if just not devout enough but Dieter just does not fit this little future athlete!! As for the nursery - nothing has been decided yet (hence the lack of registration for a crib) but Pinterest has been my favorite place to poke around and I think we're getting closer. Pregnancy has been the most wonderful thing I have ever experienced. I cannot wait to meet this little boy.