Half way there! 20w4d pregnant

I apologize to those who keep up with my blog. Life got in the way and I haven't had a chance to really keep this blog alive.

Over the last several weeks, I have begun to get larger and larger, as one does while pregnant. This pregnancy is far easier in terms of less sickness (though I did have it on and off for a while), and no food aversions. It is much harder to juggle a toddle while exhausted on top of keeping up with work.

The baby is healthy and so am I. Differences with the pregnancy include baby activity and how I am feeling. With the last pregnancy, I was feeling Liam kick early on. Steve was even able to feel Liam kick from the outside at 19 weeks. With this baby, I have an anterior placenta, which acts like a cushion and muffles all of the baby's kicks. I didn't really start to feel strong kicks till the end of week 19 and now at the end of week 20, I was able to feel (just once) the baby kicking from the outside. We have gotten multiple scans with this baby and I will be monitored closely due to my lupus and post-partum hemorrhage. Thankfully we still do not know what the sex of the baby is yet.

I am feeling tired with this baby but with a toddler, there is no chance for resting. Most of my down-time is at night. I am happy that my tastebuds never changed and so I have enjoyed all foods. My sense of smell didn't change either. Below are some photos of baby.

Baby at 12 weeks for my NT scan

Baby at 12 weeks for my NT scan

Baby at 12 weeks for my NT scan

3D Baby at 19w at our anatomy scan (hand over face)

2D Baby at 19w at our anatomy scan (hand over face)

We have been working on the house and we are in the process of stripping all the paint out of the house. We have hired a lead abatement team to take care of it. I can't wait till it's done! In the meantime I am working on spring semester and plan to get my lab manual completed by mid-January.

Liam is doing well with speech and has really started to say more phrases. His favorites: "There she is" "What's that?", "Mommy, gone!" "Oh NO! Its Stuck!""Bye bye ____ (insert car, boo boo, pee, milk. ducks, truck, etc)". Many of his words still lack the beginning portion but he is getting better. I can see that he is really really trying hard. We are traveling and so he has not slept in a crib for 1 week. He is doing well with that (as well as 100% potty trained, including nights) and we plan to move him to a big boy bed after the new year.