week 18

Wow, I can't believe we're at week 18. Time seems to be starting to move faster (it will probably soon start to move slow again when Im massive and sluggish).

This week baby is the length of a bell pepper and my uterus is the size of a cantaloupe!

Ive been enjoying some definite movements from inside the belly this past week. After dinner last night, while we were watching the NBA finals between the Lakers and Celtics, Baby Bi was going rather nuts and with hand on belly, U was able to feel a definite little "fist bump".

This morning I had a routine doctors appointment. When the doctor pressed the heart monitor/dopplar probe on my stomach to hear the baby's heartbeat, the baby kicked the probe and we could see it move!

....Sorry to have invaded your space my darling! The kid has personality - I love it! :-D (FYI baby's heartbeat measured 143 beats per minute today)

I am absolutely loving these new and now more regular flutters and kicks. Its reassuring to receive "communication" from the little one and I take the communication as a sign that all is pretty well inside his/her current home. Just thinking about the kick to the probe this morning makes me smile and feel... oddly proud.

On my own physical manisfestations, I can report feeling pretty good. Appetite has increased and I was actually able to eat broccoli today after 3 months of finding it to be the foulest thing on earth. I had fully expected them to tell me at the doctors that I had gained 10+ pounds or something, but to date I have only gained 3. I asked the doctor if this was normal, or if I should be eating more, but she said that this is absolutely fine at this stage and that I will gain weight soon enough (apparently its a combination of an increased appetite, better food absorption and a slower metabolism that helps a woman gain weight during pregnancy). Only new complaint is that my back has definitely started to cause me some discomfort and sitting standing or walking for longer periods of time can lead to quite some back pain. I fully expect this to only get worse so am bracing myself in preparation!

This weekend Stephen and Anchyi came to New York. On Saturday night U and I met up with them in the city along with Andy and we had a nice reunion of sorts. We grabbed dinner at Pearl Oyster bar (yum!) then headed to Nightingale Lounge to Aron's farewell party. Aron kindly welcomed our little posse of people, and we had a relaxed and fun night. The next day, Stephen Andy and his girlfriend Christine headed to our place in Long Island. First we made a failed attempt to have a beach day (the weather turned suddenly from hot and sunny to cold any windy), plan B led us back home to enjoy some Sangria and beer, Stephen cooked for us a delicious meal and we shared a lot of laughs as always. Was great to have had a weekend with some of my oldest and greatest friends.

Not much else to report for now. But we have a few exciting things to look forward to as we have our big 20 week ultrasound in 2 weeks, Jim and Kerri also arrive that week and we have plans to spend the July 4th weekend with them at Lake George in the Adirondacks. Looking forward to it!