"Pop" goes the belly.......

Here is a picture of me at 20 weeks. I am now just over 21 weeks. It was like an overnight phenomenon. All of the sudden I woke up one morning between 19 and 20 weeks and I had this stomach that just popped out. I was standing in front of the mirror wondering whose stomach this was and exactly what had happened to mine? :) People can clearly now tell that I am 5 months pregnant.
I feel the baby move all of the time now and am loving it. One night I was laying in bed and Brian put his hand on my stomach. All of the sudden the baby did some acrobatic move and made Brian's hand jump off my stomach. It was the first time Bri got to feel the baby move. It was one of those moments you want to freeze in time because you know every time you go back to visit that moment it will bring a smile to your face.
This little guy is becoming more of a reality every day. Some days it seems like it will be forever until we meet him. Some days the reality hits that in just a few short months our lives will never be the same. We can't wait!

Baby McCutie is a boy!

Today we had our 20 week ultrasound. We both were convinced we were having a girl and were shocked to find out that we are actually having a little boy! After the initial shock has worn off we are really excited. Brian has already started to plan out all the things they are going to do together. My dad is convinced we need to train him to be left-handed so he can grow up to be a famous pitcher and make us all the big bucks, however, Uncle Chris is going to teach him how to be a punter because there is no easier way to break into professional sports. :) It was so awesome to watch him on the screen. We could see him suck his thumb and move his arms and legs. Below we have posted some pictures of this cutie. Now we just have to agree on a name...........

This is a picture of the baby sucking his thumb.

This was our favorite. Looks pretty cute. :)

This is a picture of the baby's feet. The baby's
right foot is turned sideways behind its left foot.

18 Week Checkup

Last Thursday Brynne and I had our 18 week appointment to make sure that Baby McCutie was doing OK. All signs pointed to a healthy baby and healthy development for Brynne too. She's starting to show a little more everyday and I've noticed people are tempted more and more to rub her belly. This is one of the most fascinating observations from living with a pregnant woman. In any other situation you're sure to be slapped upside the head if you touch a woman's belly, but a lot of people don't hesitate once they find out she's pregnant. The thing is, until she's somewhere in the ballpark of 20 weeks, her stomach is still the same as it always was. So you're not so much rubbing a pregnant belly, but just her normal everyday belly. I've given Brynne permission to rub anyone back who rubs her belly without asking her-I think it's only fair. So far she hasn't taken me up, but beware!

Here are a few more observations from Brynne's conversation with our midwife, Sherri, at our appointment last week.

-Brynne's been feeling pain toward the bottom of her stomach and Sherri explained that her uterus and bladder are fighting for space at this point and her bladder is extra tender. I always wondered what happened to all of the normal organs when a woman gets pregnant and the baby starts taking up space. Apparently everything else pretty much suffers, to the point where I think Sherri suggested Brynne stand on her head before going to the bathroom so that the baby could force every last little drop out of her bladder when she stood back up. (Thank you to Deb and Kelly for providing additional bathroom-time exercises to help the cause)

-This same pain becomes amplified when Brynne exercises because she feels like everything is colliding together inside. Again, Sherri confirmed that that's exactly what is happening and told Brynne that she needs to stop running until she's past 20 weeks. This made me think, baby or no baby, don't my organs collide around inside me when I run? If it's not good for Brynne, is it good for any of us? No word from Sherri on that question yet.