Week 18

I'm definitely feeling our little guy now.  Today I even saw my belly moving has he kicked me a few times.  That's such a great feeling.  I had an appointment on Tuesday with Dr. Huffman again.  She was able to find his heart beat right away (around 170 bpm this time -- he was kicking when she was using the doppler).  She said my belly looks right about where it should be for this stage, even though I feel so much bigger this time around.  When laying down, my uterus is about 3 inches below my belly button but moves up pretty far when I stand up due to my other organs.  My weight gain has actually slowed down a lot; I really haven't gained any weight in a few weeks.  My body seemed to want to get ready for the baby quickly in the first trimester and is now letting him catch up to me.  I'm sure I'll start gaining again soon though.

Dr. Huffman also said that even though my lungs are doing much better, I'll need to stay on the steroid inhaler for the remainder of this pregnancy and probably a few weeks after.  This time around, pregnancy has definitely made my usually minor case of asthma much worse.  She doesn't have any concerns about me using the steroid inhaler or my albuterol inhaler during the pregnancy.  Which is good, given I do keep having breathing issues almost daily, especially later in the day and at night. 

This week I also got a random rash on my cheeks, like I'm a teenager with acne.  Not sure what happened there, maybe from laying on my hands but it was on both cheeks.  It's mostly gone now though.  My hands have also started itching a little the last two days.  I'll have to keep an eye out for the itchy skin rash I got with Natalie.

Our boy should be about 5-5.5 inches long and weigh around 6.5 ounces; he's about the size of an onion. As seen in the ultrasound last week, we can now see the chambers of our baby's heart.   His vocal cords should be fully formed also. Over the next week, our baby will start forming hair on his head and forming teeth buds.  Pads are forming on the fingertips and toes, and the eyes are looking forward rather than out the sides of the head. Meconium, the baby's first bowel movement, is accumulating within the bowel. His prostate gland is beginning to develop.