Sea Monkey Stats 21 Weeks

How far along? 21 weeks

Weight? 127

Symptoms? Constipation, nesting, pounding heart, reflux! Reflux has been getting worse. I'm on Pepcid but we're waiting to see if it'll be effective but so far we've doubled the dose and it only marginally helps.

Maternity clothes? Nothing new although I am still keeping my eye out for the dress

Nursery Purchases? None this week

Stretch marks? Nope

Sleep? Sleeping fine usually but sometimes I have some insomnia. Still using the Unisom, but not needing it for sleep, just keeps the sickies away. I ran out Thursday night to see how I would do. I slept fine, except for getting woken up with neighborhood excitement. However I wasn't feeling so great Friday. Between that and being really tired, I decided to take the day off work.

Best moment this week? Being able to identify the baby's butt and head.

Movement? Some days I have more movement than others. I've been pretty busy and active this week, so I either don't notice it or I'm making the baby sleepy.

Food cravings? Nothing really

What I miss? Being able to eat without my ribs and diaphragm hurting.

What I'm looking forward to? Meeting with the doula

Milestones? Now officially at my heaviest weight. :)

Emotions? I've had a much better week this week than last. I'm getting anxious to meet the LO!

My appointment with the MW got moved up a few days. We finally got the deposit/financial contract worked out (it's worded really funny and we had no idea how much we owed). Everything was right on track. Got my first fundal height measurement, 21cm and weight is 127. HB was at 154bpm. It seems to be staying steady in the 150s now.

We discussed the flu shot concerns and she is on board with my idea of getting it done at work in October and having DH get it a little after with the Flumist. She thought it was important for him to get the shot this year even though he normally doesn't. We also discussed the glucose test. Turns out that it doesn't have to be fasting like the office staff said (have you noticed an underlying reoccurring theme yet?). I just cannot eat anything with sugar for 12 hours before including any fruit, juices, milk or bread. I'll miss the morning milk, but at least I get to eat something! The Glucola I'd take would be fruit punch or lime (eww). I might be able to do the fruit punch, but she also suggested that I could do it with jellybeans. I'll ask more about it at my next appointment. Glucose test is still 8 weeks or so away.

Saturday I helped my sister and mom with my shower invitations, hehe. Seems weird that the mother-to-be would be helping, but I was having fun doing it. I'm really excited since they told me where it is being held. It's something different for a baby shower, but they wanted to hold it at a scrapbook store. There is a locally owned store that has studio space for classes and crops, so it is being rented out for my shower. How unique and exciting! The invitations (handmade) are so cute, I cannot wait to show them off once they are finished!


Welcome to 22 Weeks

You Deserve A Medallion!

Marfmom is hosting a Winter Craft Carnival and since I LOVE crafts, I decided to write up one of my favorite crafts to make. Paper medallions are so versatile!



I've used them to decorate gifts, instead of a bow, used them as Christmas ornaments on a tree, and I've even matted and framed one for a wedding gift. They are pretty easy to make if you have a little imagination and access to paper crafting tools. The hardest piece to find is usually the medallion stamp. I haven't found them at my local craft or scrapbook store, but in a little mom and pop stamping and craft store. They can easily be found online though.

Tools Used

• Medallion Stamp
• Ink Pad (use pigment ink if also embossing)
• Embossing powder (optional)
• Embossing gun (optional)
• Scissors or exacto blade
• Baby wipes (cleaning ink off rubber stamps, do no use on clear stamps)
• Foam adhesive squares or "pop dots"
• Paper (cardstock weight works best, for the snowflake I used shimmery paper)
• Powder bag (optional)
• Cutting mat

First step is to look at the medallion stamp and decide how many layers to include. I decided to do 4 layers, but I easily could have done more but it requires more cutting and stamping. I wipe the powder bag over the paper. This prevents the embossing powder from sticking to the paper by reducing the static. I ink my stamp and press the stamp evenly onto my first piece of paper. Immediately I cover the inked image with embossing powder. You can skip this step, but I like how embossing helps the lines to stand out. If you do emboss, you will need to use a watermark ink pad or a pigment ink pad so that the embossing powder sticks to it. Dye inks dry too fast.

I tap off the excess powder onto a plain sheet of paper to save for later. I use the embossing gun to heat the paper and melt the powder. It's pretty fun to watch it change from a dull powder to a shiny liquid. Use caution as the gun gets pretty hot, like a hair dryer. If the powder gets too hot it will burn. Repeat these steps until you have all the layers you need.

Carefully cut out each layer. I find an exacto blade is better to use because you can get pretty detailed in cutting. However many find small pointed scissors to be just as easy to use. On my snowflake, I decided to cut out my 4th layer from the bottom layer since the part was going to be covered up anyway.

Use foam adhesive squares to adhere each layer together. This pops up the layers to make them look more 3D. If you know me, then you know I need to add some bling or glitter. Voila! You're done! If you decide to use it as an ornament you can also add layers to the back so it's not one sided.

Cross was embossed in gold on white paper and then colored with watercolors but could also be colored with pencils, markers, etc, before being cut out.

Poinsettia was embossed with red tinsel embossing powder, on red paper. Instead of using adhesive squares, I used permanent adhesive in the middle of each layer, but then curled up the leaves to make it more 3D. I used yellow flock in the middle.

Sea Monkey Stats 20 Weeks

How far along? 20 weeks

Weight? 125.7

Symptoms? Constipation, nesting, reflux

Maternity clothes? Mostly everything I wear is maternity. A few regular non-maternity shirts and dresses, but all pants are maternity now

Nursery Purchases? None this week

Stretch marks? Nope

Sleep? Sleeping fine usually but sometimes I have some insomnia. Still using the Unisom, but not needing it for sleep, just keeps the sickies away.

Best moment this week? Watching sea monkey moving around during ultrasound

Movement? Mostly when I am sitting and after I eat or sometimes when I am laying in bed. Kicks are definitely getting stronger each week. Sometimes they surprise me and make me laugh.

Food cravings? Nothing really

What I miss? Having a waist, lol

What I'm looking forward to? Meeting with the doula

Milestones? Past the half way mark!

Emotions? I've had a rough week, that's all I can really say without getting whiny and documenting all the minuscule things that have come out of the woodwork to bother me. I'm not sure if it's just the stress of everything and not getting enough sleep, or if pregnancy hormones are playing a part too.

The one thing I had to look forward to this week was our ultrasound. We didn't care for the technician but that doesn't matter since we got to see a lot of the baby. Fortunately and unfortunately the baby was cooperating so we were in and out in about a half an hour. There were a lot of measurements and we did get to see plenty of the baby but I kind of wish we could have seen more. Sea Monkey was moving around quite a bit at first, so she took pictures first and measurments second. After about 10 minutes, baby decided to relax and she was able to take measurements fairly easily.

Baby's measurements are exactly in 50% of growth charts, except in belly size which was a bit higher on the chart. Appointment was on 20w2d and femur measurements were estimating between 20w4d and 21w0d. Weight was 14oz. Cervix length is 3.3cm, placenta is at my back and plenty of amniotic fluid as I can see. Sea Monkey loved to show their profile, even well enough to get a good look at baby's lips. Seeing the 4 chambers of the heart was amazing. Heartbeat was around 147.

Here are some pictures!







Welcome to 21 Weeks

Sea Monkey Stats Week 19

How far along? 19 weeks

Weight? 123.5

Symptoms? Irritability, constipation, nesting

Maternity clothes? Mostly everything I wear is maternity.

Nursery Purchases? None this week

Stretch marks? Nope

Sleep? Sleeping fine usually but sometimes I have some insomnia. Still using the Unisom, but not needing it for sleep, just keeps the sickies away.

Best moment this week? Watching my bump grow

Movement? Mostly when I am sitting and after I eat or sometimes when I am laying in bed. Kicks are definitely getting stronger each week. Sometimes they surprise me and make me laugh.

Food cravings? Spicy food still. Last week was spicy chicken sandwiches, this week was mexican food.

What I miss? SCUBA Diving. We went on a dive trip this weekend. The weather was nice so I tagged along to help out, socialize and get some camping in. The biggest bummer was hearing all the fun stories and not getting to participate.

What I'm looking forward to? 20 week ultrasound Tuesday.

Milestones? Reaching the half way mark!

Emotions? I am still getting irritable sometimes and unfortunately DH gets the brunt of a lot of it. I am trying to make sure that I don't get too frustrated with him, but sometimes I feel like he's not picking up the slack. At times I am also feeling bossy. Nesting is really kicking in and so is my energy so I am trying to get a lot done but I am frustrated with my inability to do things like lifting heavy boxes. I'm needing DH to do it and I get frustrated with my waning independence and with needing help.

My belly has grown much more, and others are starting to notice that I am carrying high. Since the development of m bump, I've gone through my closet and packed away all the clothes I am sure won't fit and pulled out my cold weather clothes and washed and got them in the closet. Hopefully I won't need to buy much more clothing.

I also sorted through all the hand-me-down baby clothes I'd received. 11 totes in total, mostly girl clothing. That project started last week and took most of 4 days to get through! Thankfully I had a long weekend due to the holiday and taking a day off work. While we were sorting, I realized that the nursery probably won't get much use for the first few months and that I need to figure out a way to store clothes along with the bassinet in our bedroom.

Welcome to 20 Weeks

Sea Monkey Stats Week 18

How far along? 18 weeks

Weight? 121.8

Symptoms? Irritability, constipation

Maternity clothes? I broke down Saturday and went shopping for maternity pants and started wearing them yesterday.

Nursery Purchases? None this week

Stretch marks? Nope

Sleep? Sleeping fine. Still using the Unisom, but not needing it for sleep, just keeps the sickies away.

Best moment this week? Seeing my stomach move from baby kicks. Also DH started feeling them Saturday night.

Movement? Ever day, although mostly in the evening and after I eat. Getting stronger every day. I can differentiate between baby rolling and baby kicking.

Food cravings? Nothing consistent. I have been eating a lot of spicy chicken sandwiches lately though.

What I miss? Stamina. I get tired quicker than I'm used to. It is still hard to tell when I am pushing myself too much

What I'm looking forward to? 20 week ultrasound next week.

Milestones? Daddy got to feel the baby!

Emotions? Irritability is back again. I think it is because I am trying to do too much since I notice it comes out a lot more when I am tired.

I'm feeling a little bummed about my belly. I'm actually feeling a bit proud of it since it's starting to pop out finally, but when people ask about it, the kind of laugh. My neighbor (I know she wasn't trying to be mean) said that my bump is about the same size as hers but she's not pregnant. One of my sisters works with a lady that is due the same day I am, and with her first, and is much more pregnant looking.

I know I shouldn't care what others think... and hopefully it means that I won't be super huge later on in the pregnancy. I can't help but have a little bump jealousy going on.

Welcome to 19 Weeks