20 Weeks 6 Days

It's been a long time since my last update, as pointed out by my college friend (and all-time favorite derbier) Brittany Griggs.  I've hit the mid-way point and am now eagerly counting down the days until we can meet her...yes, I said "her".  We found out in week 17 that SHE is a GIRL!  I surprised myself and was so excited to hear "it's a girl!", but I'm not sure that I wouldn't have been just as excited to hear "it's a boy". 

We've completed quite a bit in these last 4 weeks.  We registered at both Target and Babies R Us, got the crib and changing table set up, are half-way finished painting her accent wall in the nursery, ordered material to make her curtains, and filled half her closet with washed and sized clothing :)  Of course, we've had a ton of help from my mother-in-law, and were given items of clothing and furniture from other family members too.

Reading my last post and thinking back, there have been a few positive changes from then until now.  The stretching has subsided a bit, and my hips only hurt every once in a while.  The swelling is still pretty bad, but only at times when I've been on my feet for a while or on especially humid days.  Drinking tons of lemon-water helps though!  I've grown, as expected, and have hit a total gain of 11 pounds.  As Nora accounts for a whopping 1 of those pounds (at an adorable size of only 10 inches), I'm expecting this second half of the pregnancy to bring with it more than the first did, as she gains around 6 more!  Not too sure where I'm gonna put her yet... 

I finally felt her start to really move around 3 weeks ago.  I hear it described as a fluttering or like gas pain all the time, but I feel like it's more of a mild cramping feeling.  Like the kind you get at the very start of your period...not painful, but a definite odd feeling in my uterus.  I felt her on and off a bit before that, starting around week 14, but now it's ALL the time, especially on my way to work in the morning, just a few minutes after I've eaten, and when I'm riding in the car with my husband.  He thinks it's because she enjoys Classic Rock, but I think it's just the heated seats.  We had our "anatomy ultrasound" last week and she was squirming around so much that they couldn't get an accurate reading on a few organs and we have to have another ultrasound in a few weeks.  Boy do we have an active little one!

Below are a few pics of the tummy and the nursery :)