Well, as of today I am 17w5d. I had a full anatomy scan of little boy last week and he’s doing just fine! Chugging along, growing as he should be, measuring right where he should.

He’s also pretty damn adorable.

Because of my age (which is the ancient 35), and that my condition is considered advanced maternal age gravida, I’m getting a lot more scans and screening than the average pregnant woman. Which is fine! It’s more of a chance for me to see little egghead. It’s comforting, especially since I’m not feeling him consistently (or 100% positively) yet. But I did feel movement last week that I’m 85-90% sure was him.

He’s around 7 ounces now, so he’s close to the half pound mark. Also about 5-6 inches in length. The size of a pomegranate, apparently. He’s doing fine, and all the testing has been normal or negative which is optimal.

At our scan, we got to confirm his gender. We already knew it (since I was about at 11/12 weeks or so) thanks to Sequenom‘s MaterniT21 test, but it was good to have conformation especially since there’s always a small chance for error.

But nope- he’s all boy!

To the average eye, it doesn’t look like anything. But that’s it. That’s your proof. And we do have a name picked out but I’m not ready to share it publicly yet. I think maybe we’ll just announce it when he’s born. Friends and family know, but I’m not quite in a place where I think it’s for public consumption… yet.

Also, my little devil mooned us during the scan. Showed us his little butt!

The ultrasound tech wrote ‘buns’ on the photo, haha.

So I’m almost halfway done! 20 weeks, which arrives around July 26, will be the halfway mark.

I think one of the craziest things to me is that this little person came out of nowhere- a surprise, no one knew he was taking up residence. And yet here we all are going gaga over him… and he isn’t even here yet. He just appeared out of the infinite, only visible through ultrasounds, as if he lives in another universe. And all of a sudden he’s  real and he’s so loved. It’s so strange, having a baby. SO STRANGE.

As far as cravings go, not too many. I mean, okay, maybe a few. I was super into lemonade and pink lemonade for a while, now I’m still into it but it’s more fruit punch or tropical punch. Always pizza. Always tacos and burritos and quesadillas. French fries- any kind, but I dream about cheese fries with bacon. Fried pickles. Crab dip. Oh- and potato chips & onion dip, which I normally am not terribly into. Nothing crazy like pickles with ice cream. Now that I’m into the second trimester, I’m feeling good. Not THAT tired anymore, the morning sickness is gone. I’m kind of enjoying being pregnant right now. I know the second trimester is supposedly the “best” trimester, so I’m just trying to enjoy it as much as possible. Sleeping is starting to get a little uncomfortable and I have some semi-frequent headaches & backaches, but nothing too bad. I’ve got a Snoogle and a Hiccapop wedge (what a bunch of ridiculous names!) and they help a lot, whether I’m on the couch or in bed. Speaking of bed, I do wish I’d get this burst if second trimester energy I hear about, but it’s just enough for now that I don’t have heartburn/nausea/migraines/etc.

Baby boy has quite a lot of stuff already. He’s got tons of clothes and blankets and stuff, and we’re waiting on some more homemade stuff (burp cloths, blankets, pacifier clips) from Aunt Yoyo in California. He’s one spoiled little boy already!

And because this seems to be the thing to do, here’s a gratuitous bump shot:

And that’s it for now. Another update in a few weeks or so. For now… back to the recipes.

Soundtrack: The Supremes – “Baby Love”