16 weeks

i will be 16 weeks tomorrow, and i haven't updated on the pregnancy in a while, so i figured now would be a good time.

i have an appointment this week for a checkup, to hear the heartbeat, etc. then in two weeks and three days, we find out if baby is a boy or a girl.

we have chosen our names: samuel nicholas or claire kristine.
nicholas is after nick anderson, justin's friend who died in afghanistan. kristine is after my aunt krissy, who died after a battle with breast cancer. the first names aren't particularly "after" anyone, though samuel's biblical significance with infertility was part of making our choice (i will not be giving him away to live somewhere else, though, lol). claire was one of many girl names we debated but finally chose because it was one we both really liked. nope, not in the bible. just cute. :)

my baby bump is getting more and more pronounced these days. i have felt tiny movements since i was 14 weeks, which is supposed to be impossible, but it's also supposed to be impossible for me to be 16 weeks pregnant so i try not to go by that too much. there, i believe, is one now.

it is now 4-5 inches long not including its legs, which i'm sure don't help it out much because we all know that a child of mine and justin's will be lucky to make it to 5'6". :)

(and sometimes i do refer to baby as it, because i don't know if it's a sam or a claire and i'm not calling it one or the other and feeling like a bad mom if i guess wrong. a combination of the names would be something like 'clam,' and i'm not calling it that either, so sometimes, i call my baby 'it.' some people don't like that, but hey, at least i acknowledge that it is a person.)

also, hello hips and thighs! jeans that fit just a week or two ago are uncomfortably snug above the knee. thankfully i invested in some maternity clothes, some larger jeans, and a belly band from target. i have also been using a hair tie when i need the extra inch or two to hook the button together.

for any of you who are considering buying maternity clothes from old navy - they are great if you can get them to fit, but the fit varies so much between sizes. i got a 4 (old navy is kind - i do not wear a 4 anywhere else) in some corduroys that was perfect, and a 4 in some khakis that will probably still be loose when i go to deliver. those are getting returned. i have learned that full price maternity pants are around $30-$35, and if you can get them for $10 (like the cords i got), buy them!

and just today i almost peed my pants on accident. well duh, i wouldn't do it on purpose, but still, you hear about sneeze-peeing (snissing...) and cough-peeing, but you think, "will this happen to me?" yes, it will, if you aren't careful.

and i am not superstitious (maybe a little stitious...), but just please trust me and never, ever think, "i don't have that symptom." give it time. i was not peeing every hour during my first trimester like all of the websites said i would, but i am lucky if i'm not out of bed three times in a night feeling like my bladder is going to pop now that i'm in the second trimester.

last night we were trying out our baby monitor (thanks, greggs!!!), and justin took the baby one and went down the hall. of course, he didn't say, "can you hear me?" he said, "wahhhh, wahhhh, wahhhhhhhhh!" never a dull moment.

i'm going to end this one. i have to pee. ;)