A (Belated) Week 17-18 Bumpdate
I’m a bit frustrated with myself! I totally meant to (and wanted to) have fun pregnancy updates that pop up every week or two on the blog like clockwork.
But, friends, real life doesn’t work that way. 🙂
Things like morning sickness, travel, weddings, family events, housekeeping, teaching (not to mention wrapping up the school year), and teacher workshops get in the way. And they take precedence because they are in real-time and our relationships with the people in our lives are important to us!
All that being said, I have been jotting some notes to myself along the way as a means of pregnancy updates…
So today, I’m reaching back in time a little bit (I’m 22 weeks along now) to look at pregnancy in weeks 17 and 18!
A (Belated) Week 17-18 Bumpdate:
How far along: 17-18 weeks (although we’re kind of pretending because by the time I got this post written, I was 22 weeks!)
Size of the baby: bell pepper
Weight gain: about 8 pounds? I lost a couple pounds during that super fun morning sickness time, so I’ve gained those back and a few more by now! Hooray!
RELATED READING: First Trimester Recap
Gender: (We didn’t find out until 21 weeks at a gender reveal party with family! Our anatomy ultrasound was at 20 weeks.) But for the purposes of this post, we still didn’t know!
Symptoms: I’ve been breaking out a little bit, but with my Rodan + Fields Unblemish face wash, I can get it quickly under control. Nausea is gone (hooray!!). I can tell my center of gravity is changing a bit. I’ve also lost my belly button at this point, haha.
I have been SO very clumsy these past couple weeks, it’s unbelievable!! I’ve dropped a bowl in the kitchen and it shattered all over. I drop my car keys alllll the time. I dropped a $5 Caribou drink the other day and almost cried when it exploded everywhere on the driveway (I live 35 minutes away from a coffee shop and I’d barely tasted the drink, so I’d say it was worth mourning!).
Mostly, though, I’ve been feeling great. It’s great to have announced our pregnancy to coworkers and friends by now, and I’ve got a fun little baby bump. I’ve heard from coworkers that I’m glowing, which (whether it’s true or not) is really sweet of them!
Missing: My loose leaf tea. Yes, I’m one of those first-time parents who looked up ingredients and decided to stop eating certain things based on what I read… I pinpointed a couple ingredients in my favorite tea that weren’t necessarily recommended for the first trimester, so now being in my second trimester, I’m still cautious about them! I’ve also weirdly been wishing I could eat deli meat lately! (Probably just because I read I shouldn’t have it..) I’m not missing alcohol because I don’t really drink much…although I was eyeing some white wine at Olive Garden the other day and thought it looked refreshing! I suppose I will miss doing some wine tasting at any wineries we pass when we’re traveling this summer – those outings, like this cidery in Virginia, are fun memories for us!
Wearing: Some maternity pants like these jeans from Pink Blush…combined with some non-maternity tops. I don’t usually wear skin-tight shirts anyway, so I probably won’t have to get into larger maternity tops for a while. As always, I like wearing maxi skirts or dresses (belted above my bump!) for teaching.
Craving: Apples! Tons of fresh apples! With or without caramel sauce. 🙂 I’ve been eating at least 2 apples a day! But while I’m trying to eat healthier snacks, I think I’m ruining that by just plain wanting to eat everything in sight! One day I got a McDonalds sundae AND frozen yogurt in a matter of hours! I’ve been loving Chinese food and Mexican food, and I’m enjoying making our favorite Thai Red Curry at home again. I’m mostly grateful to be feeling human again, with nausea gone!
Feeling: Nervous for our anatomy scan at 20 weeks! The days really drag on when you’re anxious to see that all is well with your baby! I did see Baby on the ultrasound screen at 5-6 weeks, but he or she didn’t look like a human baby at that point!
Also, emotionally speaking, I have done a lot of crying for no good reason. For instance, I started crying one night because, as I told Bjorn when he asked, “I just love you so much!!” 🙂 Oh dear. I also may or may not have cried one night when we went to bed because I had forgotten to make my overnight oats for the next morning…but I was too tired to get up and make them. Bless Bjorn’s heart for dealing with me when I’m in this state, haha! He is so compassionate and kind, even when he may be a bit perplexed at all my tears. But honestly, he grew up with all girls and I think that makes him the perfect husband!!
Looking forward to: Our anatomy scan! We have been praying for a healthy baby and we can’t wait to see our little one on the screen! I’m also looking forward to the school year being over so that I can really turn my attention to baby projects around the house!
Bjorn is: His normal steady self (he balances out my crazy emotions), but he’s excited. He is going to be an amazing Papa Bear!
Movement: At 17 weeks on the dot, I was laying propped up in bed and blogging, and I suddenly felt the lightest little kick! It felt exactly like people always describe it – like a little butterfly! I made sure to write that moment down. I didn’t want to forget it!
Sleep: I’ve been super paranoid that I’ll have those crazy second trimester nightmares.. While I haven’t had a legitimate, awful nightmare yet, I have had some pretty intense dreams! (Mostly running or being chased by things… but one of which was what I thought was an amazing idea for an Etsy shop, but when I told Bjorn in the morning, we both realized how dumb it sounded, haha!!) At this 17-18 week mark, I haven’t really been getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom…yet!
Best moments: Feeling Baby move. It’s reassuring and exciting! It’s also fun having a more distinct baby bump!
^^ Trying on dresses the other night to see how everything would fit! ^^
I’ve also been referring to the baby as “her” and “she” for a couple weeks now…so at 20-ish weeks, we’ll finally find out if mother’s intuition is correct! It’s funny because then after I talk about Baby as a girl, Bjorn will talk to my bump and say “Hey, baby, if you’re a boy, then we’re so sorry that your mama has been referring to you as a girl!” Whoops. At least we apologized, just in case. 🙂
Our next bump date will be on the blog very soon, because we’re already at 22 weeks now! I’m glad I recorded little snippets of our life for weeks 17 and 18, though! Time passes pretty quickly!
** You can catch up with past pregnancy posts by clicking the “Motherhood” tab at the top of this page, or just click a link below!
It looks like your mother’s intuition was right!!!
Yes!! Apparently it was! 🙂
My husband’s friend told me that he knew his wife was pregnant when she started dropping things all the time! Clumsiness comes with the joy, I suppose!
Haha — yes! The clumsiness has totally thrown me for a loop – it’s been hilarious!
Your classroom is the cutest and I love that striped dress you’re wearing!! And yes, completely agreed, life takes precedence. However, these posts are very cute! 🙂
Aww, thank you, Autumn! You are too kind! (And I do love that striped dress – it’s a maternity dress but I wore it well before I was even showing!) I’m glad you liked this post! I’ll try to remember to do more in the future 🙂
Yes, I was thinking the same. I love this outfit. Hannah, you are so cute. I’m so excited for this new chapter in your life.
haha I love that you apologized just in case – we did that with our babies too! And reassured them “and if you’re a boy, don’t think we’re disappointed. We’ll really be very happy whoever you are.” haha – gotta cover your bases!
Haha! Definitely! We wanted to say sorry, just in case baby was a different sex than we had thought! 🙂 So funny!