17 Week Update!

It's been a little while since I've written a proper update, so here goes!

My son (and it is so strange saying that) moves around ALL the time. His favorite times to move around are in the afternoon while I am teaching, and in the evening, when I am watching TV or playing xbox. I have been blessed enough to have started to feel his movements very early, around 13 weeks for sure, but now it's much more present and intense, and they instantly remind me of why I went through all I did to get here.

In my excitement after finding out the sex of our baby, I went home and bought his "take home" outfit for when we are released from the hospital. Of course, I chose a Ravens outfit, since B insisted he wear a jersey coming home. Unfortunately, they don't make newborn sized jerseys, so this will have to do:

We are still working on finding a name for our baby boy. I only had a girl name picked out, and we were never set on a boy name. We found a name over the weekend that means "fighter" and we both really like it, so it's at the top of our list right now. We are not sharing names with our family or friends because our family is very, very vocal, and we don't want to hear everyone's opinions on the name we chose. They will find out the baby's name when he is born. :) So, please don't ask us about names, because we aren't going to give them up!

I am officially showing to the point where there is no more covering it up. At all. Sometimes, I struggle with this and reminding myself that I am not "fat" but "round and pregnant." Might sound strange to some people, but when a person already struggles with their body image, it's difficult to see your body change so much. I've taken to embracing my bump, though, and though sometimes I might change into twenty different outfits before I leave the house, I at least leave the house happy.

Here I am at 17 weeks:

We have chosen a doula, and she's coming over on Mother's Day (which I didn't realize it was!) to discuss our upcoming journey together. She used to be a labor and delivery nurse for many years, and wanted to become a doula because she wanted to work closer to mothers during their special time, and couldn't in her nurse position. She has also struggled with infertility, so she knows how important all of my choices are to me. She is technically a doula-in-training and offers a much cheaper fee than a certified doula, which is a happy middle ground for my husband and I. Doulas-in-training need to attend a certain amount of birthings before they can become certified, so I am happy to contribute to that!

I think that's all, really! I'm sure I have more to write, but I didn't eat breakfast yet, and I am starving. And since I'm not usually hungry at all, I seize the moments when I am and run with them. :)