23 Weeks

So.... I noticed I hadn't posted anything in the past few weeks. Things have been very busy in the Bruns' household.

In regards to baby news, our little girl is kicking more and more! I can tell the difference now between kicks, turning around, and hiccuping. It's so wonderful to be able to feel her moving around inside! I continue to be amazed at the whole pregnancy/birth process that God designed. He is forming our little girl right there in my belly!

I have gained a little more weight now for a total of about 7 pounds. The belly (although it has a lot more to grow) already feels very big to me! It's harder to get up from the sofa and bed. And it gets in the way of being able to prop my legs up to shave. I also am having pain on the right side a lot when I sleep at night. So I keep playing around with pillows trying to figure out what will work best and make me the most comfortable.

We have done our registries. Our main one is at Babies R Us since my big shower will be back home in Virginia Beach where they have this store. There is just a lot more options there. We have also done a somewhat duplicate registry at Target for people in Lynchburg that don't have access to a Babies R Us. I'm still working on editing it a bit but for the most part it's completed.

We ordered the crib and dresser for the baby's room this past weekend. It should be here the 2nd week in August. You can check the crib out at: http://www4.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6.aspx?DeptID=42249&CatID=42332&GrpTyp=STY&ItemID=11c1ba1&attrtype=&attrvalue=&CmCatId=405254233142332. The picture shown is in a white finish but ours will actually be in the honey finish.

I am also trying to decide on bedding. It is down to two. The first one is at Babies R Us: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2415206&cp=&pg=2&f=Taxonomy%2FTRUS%2F2255957&sr=1&origkw=alphabet+soup&kw=alphabet+soup&parentPage=search. The second one (which I think I am leaning more towards) is at Baby Depot: http://www.burlingtoncoatfactory.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Section_Id=45144&pcount=&pn=1&Product_Id=462752&SearchedProduct=t.

I can hardly believe that there is only about 4 more months until our little girl is here. I just fall in love with her more and more everyday even though I haven't even seen her yet! We have still been working on a name and I think we finally have decided on what hers will be. It is going to be a surprise though for when she is born.

I think that about covers the past few weeks. I go for another appointment on Tuesday morning. They will be doing another ultrasound, blood glucose test, and the normal visit with the doctor. I will post afterwards to let everyone know how that went. As always, continue to pray for our little baby girl. She is in our prayers everyday that God would protect her and keep her healthy.

Fireworks

Just a funny happening for the week... Matt and I went to see the fireworks at Liberty last night. They, of course, are very loud plus with the echo coming from the mountains it was even louder. Well it definitely woke our little girl up in there! She was kicking up a storm during the fireworks - probably wondering what's going on out there!

My Sister

My sister's IUI (artificial insemination) didn't work this month. :( Continue to pray for her and that God will give her peace and hopefully a child very soon! I know that God can work miracles and bless her with a child - so my prayers continue to be for that blessing from God for her and Chris.

Movement and Sleeping

Our little girl is being quite the active one now! She is definitely getting stronger. Thursday evening she was kicking pretty hard and was the first time I could see her kicking by just looking at my belly. That was crazy - seeing my belly raise up in different places! It was really exciting though.

And on another note... trouble sleeping and achiness has come into my pregnancy vocabulary this week. The past few nights I have been so sore on my right side when I wake up in the morning and just achy. I tried last night sleeping strictly on my left side and that did help although my shoulder got sore from being on that side all night.

We've been working again on looking at names. What a difficult decision that is! I told Matt he might have to choose. There is one name I think I like but I'm not quite sold on it yet. We are keeping the name as a surprise until the baby is born. Plus I want to be able to change my mind and not hear any "comments" from other people about our name selection.

It's a GIRL!

Today we went for the halfway point ultrasound. What an exciting day!!! Matt of course was able to be there as well. When she first put the probe on my belly and I saw our little baby girl it was SO amazing to see this formed kicking baby in there! Yes - we are having a girl! At first she was all curled up but then she got moving around and stretching out. The first half of the ultrasound was checking different parts/sizes (brain, spine, legs, arms, etc.). Then finally she got in to a position where we could see whether she was a boy or girl. The ultrasound tech said "see those 3 white lines? That's her labia." And I said "that means it's a girl right?" Haha, silly me. I teared up some and just looked at Matt cause we were in such shock we finally knew what we were having and that this little baby moving around was ours! Matt's going to be such a great dad and I told him she will be daddy's little girl. She weighs 10 ounces and has a good heartrate (142) as well.

Then the tech said that since they just got the equipment for 3D ultrasounds and they were just trained, she was going to do that with me for FREE because I was a good candidate (smaller build). So we got lucky today!! The 3D stuff was amazing - just seeing her little face even though it's still so small was incredible. Matt's mom thinks she's got Matt's nose and I think her lips look like Matt's too. She kept putting her arms over her face though making it difficult to get a good shot. One time she even put her little hands up over face like she was saying "I've had enough picture taking now." :)

So far I have gained 4 pounds - and all of that really within the past few weeks. I have really grown a lot this week. Then we saw the doctor and he looked at all the ultrasound pics and said everything was fantastic and I was doing great. He said I was the model picture of a good healthy pregnancy!

Another plus: Our insurance only covers the one ultrasound which we had today unless there is a medical need for another one. Well, because of the baby's positioning, the tech couldn't get good shots of her heart which is imporant. So when I go again the end of July I will get to have another ultrasound!

Matt and I are both SO excited about our little girl! We went out looking at clothes tonight and had a celebratory dinner. Matt got her a little onesie that says "apple of daddy's eye." Now we just have to work on picking a name!