Pregnancy: week 18 and ultrasound news!


This kid is now about 5.5 inches long, or the size of a baked potato (yum!), and weighs about 7 ounces. Ears are now in their correct position on the head and they can hear sounds, like we may hear sounds underwater.

Myelin is starting to form around the nerves–the science nerd in me gets so excited about this! The nervous system is the best one (for real) and myelin is so cool (and so important)! But this process continues even after birth, for about a year.


Oh man. I feel like things have turned in the past week. As in–I’ve been miserable. I don’t really remember ever feeling miserable last pregnancy… even when I was 40 weeks and labor was no where in sight. I loved every second of it. Maybe now it’s just old news? Maybe I’M old, hahaha.

Blood pressure tends to be lower now, which can cause dizziness when standing. YES, I have this problem. And last week I spent two days on the couch with the worst migraine ever. The first day it caused blurry vision and the second day it had me throwing up. Misery. Thank goodness my mom was able to help with Ryan!

I’m uncomfortable when I sleep and am restless. I do remember the terrible hip pain from last pregnancy–it topped my list (along with heartburn) as the worst side effect–but it didn’t start anywhere near this early!!! Thank goodness for my maternity pillow. It’s bad news to sleep on your back at this point–the weight of the uterus presses on your major vein, slowing blood flow back to your heart. It actually makes me feel sick if I end up on my back, quickly waking me up (again).

I’m hungry all.the.time. Oh, and I have to pee all.the.time. A trick: lean as far forward as you can while going to the bathroom… it’ll help push that bladder empty (or at least, emptier).

I live in hoodies (thank you, Fall weather) and stretchy pants. Oh, my maternity jeans also made their debut last week. I pulled up my shirt to show Steve my new pants that come all the way up to my boobs. Hahaha. Attractive. But COMFY!!! Although, they don’t stay up.

ULTRASOUND!!! I have a medical one at the end of October to check the heart and stuff. But… I’m impatient and excited to know the sex of the baby AND there’s a big clothing sale I go to a couple times a year with my mother-in-law that’s Oct. 15th… we need to know the sex by then!

So I’m going to one of those 3D/4D places “for fun.” I’m just getting the cheap 2D one to tell gender… TOMORROW!!! I’m going tomorrow afternoon with my mom (Steve has to work).

But here’s the trick… I don’t want them to tell us the sex. I want them to write it down on a piece of paper and fold it up. Once we get home, only my mom will look. We’ll have a little family get-together on Friday night, just something fun, order some pizza… and my mom will have made cupcakes that are filled with either blue or pink frosting. Everyone bites in together… and SURPRISE! We all find out the sex at the same time. Fun, right??? I hope so. It is going to KILL ME to know the sex is written on that piece of paper tomorrow, but I have to wait 2 more days to find out, haha.

Weight: 116.5 lb (+9.5 lb total)
Ultrasound: Sept. 21
Next midwife appt: Sept. 27
Thoughts: 18 weeks… sounds pretty close to 20… 2o?! that’s halfway! HALFWAY?!?! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

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