It's A ....

20 Weeks

 

Now the fun stuff!  Week 20 rolled around and John and I headed to my OB's office for the ultrasound.  We had asked family and friends what they thought it was, boy or girl.  My mom thought it was a girl so my aunt and mom started calling Peanut "Baby Ella".  Most of our friends and neighbors thought it was a girl, but no real reason.  Our neighbor Mark thought it was a boy since he had a vision of John and a little boy throwing rocks onto his garage roof.  According to the Chinese Gender calendar, we were having a boy.  John's mom thought it was a girl.  John had a dream we had a girl (a very cut girl, he said).  I dreamt it was a dinosaur.

 

The ultrasound tech asked if we had a guess.  We said not really, other than John's dream. 

 

Are you ready?

 

She turned on the US and this was the first image:

Hey Mom, look at me!

 Can you tell what you're looking at?  I'll give you a hint, you're looking at the business end.  She says, "Well, you're wrong!" to which I replied "Is that his butt?"

"That is most definitely a boy.! There are his legs, and that's his "stuff"."

Of course, the first distinguishable photo of my son is him mooning the US.  I like saying that: My son.

He still has a German drinking nose.

Flexible little dude.

Obviously, we're thrilled.  Neither one of us really had a preference either way.  Although to be perfectly honest, I was a little disappointed it wasn't a girl.  But if it had been a girl, I would have been a little disappointed it wasn't a boy.  I know you can't have both without twins, but either way I would have been happy and disappointed, if that makes any sense.  But one clear benefit of a boy, we now have a namesake for John's family since John and his brother are the last two males.  At least with a boy, the pressure is off for a second.  To quote John's grandpa (age 89) "Oh good, the K's are saved from extinction for another generation!"

Week 22-26

It is smooth sailing now.  Other than heartburn and the occasional GI issues (and the abnormal test results), I have had a very smooth pregnancy.  I'm still running a couple times a week with an easy 6 miler on Saturdays.  I really enjoy slow runs, even though I pretty much need to stay on a route where there are bathrooms every 2 miles. 

I've gotten a lot of questions on my running, mostly how long I can keep running before I should stop.  At one of my appointments, I asked my OB.  She knows I'm active and I do follow the rules of

1. Don't overheat
2. Stay hydrated
3. Listen to your body

She told me that I can keep exercising and running as long as I'm not having any contractions.  She's had patients run up to the day they deliver and she thinks it's great.  In her experience, women who exercise consistently have shorter and easier deliveries.  That's what I wanted to hear.

I also ride my road bike occasionally; my tri bike was hung up on the wall months ago.  I also started doing ashtanga yoga, which I love.  I tried to keep swimming, and there are a lot of pregnant women who love it, but I don't.  With the cantaloupe in my belly, I can't comfortably flip turn, and swimming in general feels like too much strain on my abs.  Not to mention I'm falling out of my suit and I don't want to but a maternity suit.

And Optimus Prime is entertaining as hell.  I first felt him kick at week 18, John felt him kick at week 19, and then one night John was listening to my belly and got kicked square in the ear.  By this point, he kicks the crap out of me daily, which is a little freaky to see my belly move on it's own.  One night he kicked me so hard in the stomach, I woke up in the middle of the night with heartburn and the taste of vomit in my mouth.  Thanks little man, I'll remember that one. 

He has also kicked our cat in the head while the cat was on my lap.  That was pretty funny. The cat turned and looked at me like "What the hell?"  After the second kick, he turned so his head wasn't on my belly. 

I wish I could say I have a cute pregnancy belly.  I don't.  It looks more like a beer belly.  But we've been taking pictures every week and I'll post a few pictures soon.