Pregnancy Dreams Prevail....

I had a random pregnancy dream last night... they are becoming more and more dominant over my normal dreams (don't ask me what a "normal" dream is, I am not really sure.  How about anything that is not a pregnancy dream.)

In my dream I sucked the helium of a balloon and started floating in the air. Then I was worried that the helium would hurt Riley for the rest of the dream and just couldn't forgive myself.

In most of these dreams I will do something without thinking about the repercussions, then be worried throughout the rest of the dream I did something that might have affected Riley in a bad way.

Any dream interpreters out there?

22 WEEKS!

To put it into perspective: I found out I was pregnant at 4 weeks on the day.  Since the day I found out I was pregnant... it has been 18 weeks. I am now 22 weeks and have 18 weeks left until Riley's due date. I understand she might not arrive on that EXACT date, but it really makes it real!  The chalkboard is on hold for a little bit until I can find some time to repaint it.  I thought I was being so smart by using chalk paint markers.  Unfortunately, they do not clean off all the way on my chalkboard so I want to put another coat of chalkboard paint on the board before I update it again.  I will do a belly shot later today and post though.  Here we are @ 22 weeks!

How far along? 22 WEEKS! 

Total weight gain: 12 lbs.  Baby is the size of a papaya and over a pound now!
Maternity clothes? Just ordered another batch of maternity clothes! I am almost completely out of pants to wear. My pants I kept that used to be two sizes too big (pre-pregnancy) are now one size too small. Depressing.  I understand, I am growing a baby inside of me, but there is still that realization that I don't fit any of my normal pants anymore which is a little depressing. 
Stretch marks? Not yet.  (Fingers crossed)
Sleep: I really am not enjoying sleeping on my side.  I am so uncomfortable.  Andrew got me a snoogle for Christmas and I cannot quite figure out how to get comfortable with it.  I have a tempur-pedic pillow that I LOVE and I cannot figure out how to use the snoogle AND my tempur-pedic pillow comfortably.  1-2 trips to the bathroom a night still and lots of tossing and turning in the mornings.  Can't sleep in even when I want to. 
Best moment this week: Buying some nursery wall decor. I am so excited to get the nursery together. I have just been buying things here and there, but I am ready to buckle down and get that room finished!
Movement: Feels about the same.  Off and on... usually in the mornings and evenings when I am laying down being lazy.  I am ready to start feeling her constantly.  Apparently, since I am so tall, she has a lot more room in there which must be why I am not feeling her as strong. I am not nearly as big as most girls at 22 weeks but the doc said I am doing great in size, so I guess I wont worry too much about it. 
Food cravings: None. I have decided its because I eat what I want. lol  I haven't deprived myself of anything so I haven't really had any cravings.  
Gender : TEAM PINK! Riley Grace.
Labor Signs: N/A
Symptoms: Just fatigue lately.  I have been pretty exhausted lately. I think Riley is supposed to double in size and weight over the next four weeks so I imagine the fatigue will hang around for a while. 
Belly Button in or out? In, although I have never seen this much of the inside of my belly button.  lol  Andrew is CONVINCED it is going to pop out.  I am DETERMINED not to let it happen. (I know I don't really have control, but I had a pretty deep set belly button to start, so we will see if it happens.)
Wedding rings on or off? On. Still fit the same so far.  
Happy or Moody most of the time: Pretty happy.  Just singing to Riley whenever I get a chance.  Apparently she can hear pretty well now so we have been having a lot of one way conversations lately! :)

Pregnancy Dreaming...

I had my first pregnancy dream last night.  I always thought it was weird that up to this point I had never dreamed about being pregnant.  It seemed like I was reading everywhere that pregnancy dreams were very common, and all the blogs I was reading talked about how weird their dreams had been about pregnancy.  So I didn't put much thought into it, but still slightly wondered why I wasn't having any pregnancy dreams.  I guess it just took 20 weeks for my subconscious to set in an realize that I am actually pregnant.

I don't remember much but here's what I do remember:
I was pregnant with twins and at the hospital because it was my due date.  I kept wondering what it was going to feel like when I went into labor. I felt so normal and didn't think the twins were ready to break my water.  My tummy was as big as it is now (not that big), and I was really concerned that the twins just weren't ready yet.  So throughout this entire dream I remember all these obstacles happening (like falling really hard on my tummy), I didn't know if I was still pregnant or not and all I wanted to do was meet these sweet babies.

So weird... any of you have crazy pregnancy dreams?

20 Weeks- HALFWAY THERE!

I cannot believe we are HALFWAY through this pregnancy.  Riley is getting stronger and stronger every day. We went in for our anatomy scan on Friday, and it was so wonderful to see our sweet girl again. During this scan they check everything they possibly can on your baby. They count toes, fingers, look at the spine, make sure there is no cleft lip, look at the femur, humerus, calculate the circumference of the belly and head, etc. Those are most of the things I noticed, but I am sure they did much more that I didn't know about. Even though it is a longer ultrasound, it seemed like it went by so quickly.

We are so fortunate to have such a healthy girl- 10 fingers, 10 toes, no cleft lip, strong and long humerus and femurs (that's your upper arm bone and thigh bone). I felt so fortunate that I took anatomy in college because I knew exactly what the nurse was talking about throughout the entire process.  The doc came in (this is not my usual doc--they sent me to her for this anatomy check, as they do all their patients) while the nurse was measuring the circumference of the skull. First thing she asks me is if I had taken the spina bifida and/or down syndrome tests.  I told her I did the spina bifida but wasn't sure if I wanted to do the down syndrome screening because it wouldn't change anything. She acted very concerned that I never took that test. I told her that I thought it was one of those tests that would put you more at risk for a miscarriage and it didn't seem worth it to me. She corrected me and told me it was just a finger prick. So I said, "Well okay I will do it then I guess". (She was getting me really worried... I was just ready for her to tell me Riley has down syndrome.)  She goes... "Oh, no its too late for that." I was like, "Okay well should I be concerned?" She goes... "It doesn't look like it, if there are any abnormalities then we might recommend a different test you could take, but it costs the monies." (Yes she had a weird accent and dialect.)  Anyway, I was so frustrated with her that she made me worry like that for nothing.  Turns out everything was normal.  I think she noticed how big Riley's head was and just thought she would ask if I got tested for it.  Apparently, Riley is measuring one week ahead in size.  All three of us Geffert kids measured very big, and according to my brother my niece and nephew were/are both measuring one week ahead of schedule. So it is nothing to be concerned about.  The doc also assured me that she was well within the "normal" range and not to be worried. She got me so concerned that there was something wrong with my baby at first... but I think she was just trying to get the facts, and saw that she was a bigger baby than normal.  All I can say is apparently we grow big babies in our family!  They said that just because she measures a week ahead of the norm in schedule, doesn't mean that they will move up the due date--it just means she is most likely going to be a bigger baby.  Oh boy, I mean girl! :)  We are just so very thankful that we have a healthy baby.

The entire time they were doing the scan we were watching her move around.  She loves to put her hands over her face a lot and point out her index fingers.  She kicked a little bit, but not too much.  Her head was RIGHT on my bladder which makes COMPLETE sense as to why I keep having to go to the bathroom so bad every half hour.  They tell you to drink water while you are waiting so that the baby will be closer to the ultrasound machine. Well we waited for an hour and a half and by the time we went in the room I had to go to the bathroom SO bad.  My bladder was so full that they were having trouble reading the circumference of her head and considered having me empty it. They showed me how incredibly large/full my bladder was...pretty impressive if I must say so myself! ;) It was the first time anyone has ever pointed out my bladder to me.  At the very end of the ultrasound, she turned it to 3d.  It was so AMAZING to see so much detail of Riley's face.  It wasn't the clearest image they printed, but I'll take it!  She has such a CUTE button nose and sweet soft eyes.  I cannot wait to meet her in person.

Here is her 3d image--It is of her face and her right arm is up by her right ear (on the left side of the photo).  The other thing you are seeing on her left side (right side of the picture) is her umbilical cord.  No worries, it is not attached to her neck.  This is just where is was floating when the image was taken--right in front of her.)  Everyone, meet Riley Grace in the womb:

So excited to be at this halfway mark. Just twenty more weeks and we get to meet this sweet angel.

The nursery is finally making progress. They painted it yesterday, and now I can get started on the fun stuff! :)  Andrew is going to put together the crib today and we will put both of the dressers that have been stashed in our dining room for the past month in the nursery!  WAHOO! Can't wait to finally have it all together.

How far along? 20 weeks--HALF WAY! 

Total weight gain: UGH... got on the scale this morning... I am finally up 10 pounds! YUCK! Research says that I should expect to gain 5 lbs in my first trimester, then about a pound a week after that.  So if their calculations are correct, I should have gained 11 pounds by now.  So, I am not too upset about it.  :)  Hopefully it is all pregnancy weight!
Maternity clothes? Over the Christmas holiday my sister told me that my pants were too tight and it was "time".  I knew the time was coming, I just did not want to admit it. I was so thrilled that I could still fit into my own jeans, that I was in denial that they were too tight.  Yes, I was Gloria from Modern Family. Not that extreme, but it happened. Andrew agreed that they were too snug and wanted me to feel comfortable in my own pants, so he took me shopping! I bought a pair of maternity jeans (which I think I might still wear post baby... they don't have a zipper or a button just a long elastic band that goes up really high on the stomach.  Talk about keeping shirts looking smooth and being ever so comfortable!  I also purchased two sweaters.  (Which the sales lady @ Baby Gap so was incredibly obnoxious. If I have time I will write a post just about that experience.)
Stretch marks? Nope, luckily not yet.  I will continue to put on Mustela stretch mark cream ritually and pray it doesn't happen.
Sleep: Well, once a night potty break has become 2-3 times a night potty break.  Not fun. Oh, and I cannot sleep on my back anymore (which is how I ALWAYS sleep), so I keep waking up throughout the night very uncomfortable.  When I sleep on my side my arms fall asleep so I keep accidentally rolling over to my back and wake up thinking "CRAP NOT AGAIN!", roll back to my side only for my arm to fall asleep again. All in all, sleep sucks lately.
Best moment this week: Having Andrew feel Riley kick from the outside for the first time. Such a sweet and special moment that both of us will NEVER forget. Oh and I am pretty sure Riley got the hiccups the other night!
Miss Anything? Surprisingly, nothing right now. Well, I take that back... SLEEP!
Movement: YES! She will be incredibly active for a few days... then just a few kicks here and there for the next few. 
Food cravings: None. I kind of wish I had more... I have so much trouble deciding what I want to eat because I want everything on every menu in every restaurant. If I actually had a craving for something, it would make my decisions so much easier! Come on Riley, I need an excuse to eat whatever I want. What do you want? Ice-cream? Donuts? Pickles?  You name it... I'm on it!
Gender : A sweet baby girl, Riley Grace.
Labor Signs: N/A
Symptoms: A little more round ligament pain recently (I suppose my uterus is growing quite a bit lately).  Lots of fatigue.
Belly Button in or out? In.
Wedding rings on or off? On. Still fit the same so far.  With this cooler weather, they are a little loose.
Happy or Moody most of the time: HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY! I wish we were two months ahead from now so I wouldn't have to wait as long to meet her! 

Recent Pregnancy Mishaps...

I have ALWAYS been a neat eater.  I am not known for getting food on my clothes while I eat, nor am I known for having food smeared all over my face by the time I am done with eating ribs.  I usually only use two fingers (not an entire hand), which makes the mess a lot easier to clean up in the end. More recently over the past few weeks, I have found myself to be a clumsy eater.

For an example: One minute I have my food on my fork, it is heading for my mouth… the next minute I lose it! This is no joke people. I keep literally losing my food only to find it later smeared all over my shirt, or my sheets (yes, I was eating a tangerine popsicle in bed last night and lost a part of it, only to find it 10 minutes later melted all over my ivory sheets! Today, the culprit was blueberries. One minute it is on my fork, the next… well I STILL CAN’T FIND IT!  I am sure it is squished under my butt or inside my blouse or somewhere where only other people will notice but I will have no idea. This extended belly has caused me to lose things I drop very easily.

Next up, sugar. For some odd reason the past few times I have gone to the grocery store I keep thinking I am out of sugar.  I now have THREE LARGE BAGS of sugar in my pantry.  I have got to get a hold of this pregnancy brain before I completely lose it and buy out all the sugar in the entire grocery store! Apparently I am not alone. My pregnant neighbor did the same thing recently. (I tried to give her a bag and found out).  She’s lucky she caught herself at two bags…

Anyone need any sugar?

Catching you up! Weeks 18 & 19

We go in for our big ANATOMY SCAN tomorrow (one day before 20 weeks!).  I cannot believe we are almost halfway! You better bet I will make a long post for that!  Until then, let me catch you up with some pictures!

Here is my baby bump @ 18 Weeks!

I AM 19 Weeks Pregnant!! One more week till we are halfway!

Here we are @ 19 Weeks!

Stay tuned for the 20 WEEK post! :).