18 weeks 6 days

Man I'm excited for this little stinker to be born now.  Like I'm really psyched about it.  I just can't wait. :)

But since I have to wait, I thought I'd share a few pregnancy tidbits from www.welcomebabyhome.com:

**Your total weight gain at this point is between 8 and 14 pounds. Of this weight, only about 7 oz is your baby. The placenta weighs about 6 oz, the amniotic sac weighs another 11 oz. The uterus weighs 11 oz; your breasts have increased in weight by about 6½ oz each. The rest of the weight you have gained is your increased blood volume and other maternal stores. Your heart is working twice as hard as it did during your pre-pregnancy days due to your vital organs increased needs for blood. Your uterus and skin need twice as much blood as they did before you became pregnant and your kidneys need 25 percent more.**  (My weight gain is probably around 8-10 lbs at this point, depending on what time of day you measure it.)

**Your waste system is working doubly hard and that includes your sweat glands. Progesterone will increase your sensitivity to CO2. Your body responds by working harder to expel CO2 from your system and so your rate of respiration increases.** (And yes I do sweat a lot now!!)

**Your body is retaining more fluid and that means more weight to lug around. The volume of your blood increases by around 40%. The increase in blood volume can be more from blood plasma than from red blood cells. Feelings of tiredness can be attributed to pregnancy anemia known as physiological anemia. You will need more red blood cells to maintain your hemoglobin levels and for that you require sufficient iron.**  (Ooooh.  Interesting.)

**Lower blood pressure is very common during pregnancy. This is the result of your heart having to pump larger volumes of blood each minute to keep up the extra demand on your body. Dilatation of blood vessels causes the lower BP.**  (Yup, I got the low blood pressure.  105/53 when I was sick, about 2 hours after nearly passing out.  I wonder what it was when I almost passed out!)

18 weeks 5 days

Well, now that we know Besido is a boy, I guess we can start calling him by his real name...Krewson. :)  Dave had picked this name out for his son long ago, probably before we were married.  It's his mom's maiden name.  I was happy to comply, as I think it's a pretty cool name.  We're going to use Krew for short. The middle name is still to be decided on.  We're having a hard time finding something that flows the way we want.  I'll let you know when a decision is made. :)

Yesterday at the doc's office, I weighed myself while we were waiting to be called back for the ultrasound.  I've been ravenous lately, so I was a little nervous about what I might see on the scale.  To my shock, I hadn't gained any weight since my last appt.  Nothing in two weeks.  I'm like, "Holy cow, where has everything I've been eating been going???"  The only thing I can come up with is that our little boy requires an insane amount of food.  Just today, I had a giant glass of milk and a piece of high fiber toast in the morning.  By 10 am my stomach was growling horribly (and I was actually hungry far before that).  So I ate another piece of high-fiber toast with peanut butter.  Still hungry.  So I ate another piece of high-fiber toast with peanut butter.  Still hungry.  I'm like, this is ridiculous.  I'd been drinking tons of fluids all along, too.  I didn't let myself eat anything else until 11am, at which point I gave in and pulled out some soup and chips and salsa.   I'm eating these items slowly, hoping they'll last me a little longer than the bread.  I'm about halfway through the bowl of soup and I think my stomach is finally starting to feel full (which will last for about, oh, 5 minutes).  At least I'll feel satiated for a short while.

On another note, this pregnancy also appears to be killing my teeth.  I'd heard that women tend to start getting more cavities when they're pregnant, but I never worried about it happening to me.  Until I went to the dentist on Tuesday because of tooth pains.  Lo and behold, I have two, possibly three, teeth that need fillings.  I'm not exactly thrilled about this.  I barely ever get cavities.  I had one when I was really little, like third grade, and then I had a bunch at once when I was older because my sealants on my molars leaked (which means the cavities were unavoidable and had nothing to do with my personal hygiene or brushing habits).  So I wasn't sure whether to be disappointed in myself or not when I found out on Tuesday that they need to drill into my head in several places.  I think I'm going to vote no, that I shouldn't blame myself.  If anything, I've been healthier lately in regards to my teeth.  Less sugar, less coffee, stringent brushing.  So I think I'll blame the pregnancy.  Yay for raging hormones and a baby sucking all the calcium out of your body.  Pregnancy is AWESOME!!!

But really, now that I've seen Krew and we know his gender, I feel like I can identify with him more.  He's more real now.  And now I just want him to come out and be born.  I want to see him again and hold him.  I feel like 5 months is forever to wait.  I'm sure it will fly by, because there is tons to do before then, but man I wish it was closer.  If anything, I wish I could go have an ultrasound every week so I could look at him and watch him grow.  It's like you get this little peak at what's coming, then you just have to wait.  And wait.  You have a baby, but he's unreachable, because he's stuck inside of you.  How bizarre is that.

At least I have his kicks to give me a little pick-me-up.  They're getting stronger and more frequent now.  Definitely not all the time, but I usually feel him at least once or twice a day.  Sometimes there will be a whole series of kicks and I get really excited.  He's actually quite the active kid.  He was moving all around during the ultrasound, making it hard for the technician to get good pictures.  So once he's stronger, I'll probably be feeling a lot of movement.  Which will probably be fine with me. :)