17 Weeks!

This week I went to my OB appointment with one of my best friends from nursing school, Maggie! Dan was unable to make it to the appointment due to a residency interview at the Nebraska Medical Center here in Omaha. I am such a lucky girl to have such amazing friends who are willing to take the time to support me and my growing family! Thank you Maggie for being there for me! You are going to be such an amazing "aunt" to our sweet baby!

At the appointment, we got to listen to the heart beat, which was high 140s, low 150s beats per minute. According to my OB, this is a perfect heart rate!! Unfortunately, we weren't able to see an ultrasound of the baby, despite our hopes, but our big ultrasound appointment will be February 6th! At that same appointment, we will find out what we're having! It's probably a good thing that we didn't have an ultrasound of the baby this week. I'm afraid if we had had one, I would have been too tempted to ask what the sex of the baby was, which would have been exciting to find out, but without Dan present, wouldn't have made it as special. Otherwise, the appointment was rather straight forward. I asked my questions and the OB eased all the worries I had. A girl I work with, who is due about 5 days after me, felt she was having back labor this past week and ended up going to the ER. I was rather worried for her and her baby and that worry started to make me worried for my own baby. Like I said, all my fears were set at ease!

Today marks the beginning of my 17th week of pregnancy! 

Every once in a while, I think that perhaps I can feel our sweet baby nudge me, but only time will tell if what I'm feeling is actually the baby or something else! ;) My OB mentioned that since I'm such a tiny girl and my baby is growing like it should, I could potentially feel the baby move this week!!! 

At this point our baby:

--Now has finger & toe nails

--Can smile and frown (although it doesn't do so on purpose)

--Is storing lots of fat to keep it warm at birth

--Can hear sounds outside of my body

--Is practicing breathing (it's chest rises & falls)

--Exhales amniotic fluid

I LOVE reading my pregnancy books! Just thinking about our baby brightens my day!