Friday, August 10, 2012

18 weeks

Time is still flying by and here we are at 18 weeks.  The baby is now the size of a sweet potato.  The baby can yawn, hiccup, suck, and swallow, and is quite active in the womb.  I have been feeling more and more movement, which is very exciting!
On Monday, we will hopefully find out if the baby is a boy or girl.  Although that's not the main point of the anatomy ultrasound, it is the fun part!  They will also take measurements of every bone in the baby's body, making sure he or she has all their toes and fingers.  They use markers to make sure there are not obvious abnormalities.  We aren't anticipating any issues, but it is still a little nerve wracking.
I will be 18 weeks, 3 days for the appointment, we found out that James was a boy at 19 weeks, 3 days, so we'll know a bit sooner this time.  I only know James' gestational age at the time because I was looking at his ultrasounds last week.  James was "out and proud" with his boy parts, so hopefully this baby will be as cooperative.  At least they are big enough to shake around in there if we need to get a different angle, unlike the last ultrasound we had four weeks ago.
I have been feeling pretty good the last few weeks, not nauseous or overly tired.  I have been having some difficulty sleeping, but sometimes am getting relief if I use a pillow between my knees.  My trip to the neurologist was fairly boring, he confirmed that the headaches that I'm having are migraines and gave me a medication to try.  The doctor wants me to clear this medication with my OB first, but honestly, after doing some research of my own, I'm not sure I'll be taking it.  The drug is in pregnancy category C, which isn't terrible, but long term use of it can lead to withdrawal-like symptoms in babies.  I think if I were to take it, I would just worry every time the baby cried or was irritable that it was my fault for taking the medicine.  But we will see what the OB says and go from there.  Luckily, in the last few weeks my headaches have been getting better.
I'm sure I will update as soon as I can on Monday with the sex of the baby, so be on the look out!

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