16 Week Check-up

I know we are a little behind, because our 16 week check-up was last Monday and now we are starting into our 17th week - Boy time flies!!!

None-the-less, we did have our 16 week check up on Monday and everything went great!

16 Week Information:

The skin is pink and transparent and the ears are clearly visible.
All the body and facial features are now recognizable.
The baby can now blink, grasp, move its mouth, and suck its thumb.
Hair and nails begin to grow.
The baby has also begun to kick. (I have only felt that once, I think. More to come soon though, I am sure.)
A 16 week old baby in the womb.

Here is a re-cap of our check up:

• Blood Pressure, urine, etc. all checked out fine :)
• Weight - Lost another pound - up to 13 pounds gone so far! I am beginning to think pregnancy is a new diet fad. Just Kidding! No one is concerned about my weight loss, so neither am I - it is what it is.
• We decided NOT to get the AFP Tetra blood work and the Cystic Fibrosis Test done. Usually this is done between 15 and 20 weeks and our doctors suggested doing it at 16 weeks. However, we are confident that God is keeping our baby 100% healthy and doing the testing would just be a waste of my blood and the insurance companies money.
  
• Fetal heartbeat - 145 - it is finally coming down a little - at 8 weeks it was high at 174, then at 12 weeks it was 155, now it is down to 145 - Can't wait to see what it will be at 20 weeks, it should stable out here soon.
• Great conversation with (one of) our midwives.
• We had a great discussion about birthing method options, and our midwife Blair really put me at ease about some hesitations I was having about certain birthing methods. Basically, the short version is, Brian and I have decided to "plan on" having an un-medicated, unmonitored (meaning no internal or external fetal monitors, machines, IVs, etc.), low touch labor and delivery in the Midwifery Center at our hospital. However, the center requires all mommy and daddy's-to-be to educate themselves with a birthing class to prepare them for the whole birthing experience. Brian and I were struggling with which class was right for us and our baby, so it was great to get all our questions answered. We certainly don't want to discount the fact that our faith is extremely important to us and we know that we can get through the labor and delivery with prayer and loving support of one another. We wanted to find a class that would allow us to incorporate that as well.
  
• We scheduled our ultrasound! We can't wait to see our baby on the screen and find out what God has blessed us with!!! 3 weeks and we should know! :)
• My belly is growing! Although we have experienced much weight loss, my uterus is still rising above my pelvic bone and starting to pop out - I now have a pouch :) Like a kangaroo, therefore, I am still referring to this baby as "The Kid" (Sorry Mom / Grandma Stank)
• Brian is AWESOME - I have the best husband. Not only does he clean up my vomit, but he goes to my appointments with me, cheers me on about having to pee in a cup (I don't do well when I have to pee on command), drives me to the doctor, makes sure I eat when my belly is on empty, and loves me and the baby unconditionally. We both get kisses everyday before he goes to work - one for me, one for the kid. :)

That just about sums it up! Oh, the vomiting has subsided some! I think I only got sick a total of 3 times this week, that is a big difference from 2 times per day! Yeah! Maybe the end is in sight!

Stay tuned for our 20 week check-up next month and our big "Baby Gender" Announcement!!!