I had a great time shooting with Renee on Saturday! She got so many pretty shots… I have a few photos that her husband Michael took to go through still, but here is what I have so far!

Originally published in my journal, Stephanie's Thoughts. Leave me a comment!

I got a new cell phone a week ago – The Motorola Droid. I’m loving it! I still have a lot to learn, but I don’t miss m old Blackberry Curve at all now.

One super cool feature is that I can now stream live video from wherever I am! It drains my battery really quickly, but it will be a lot of fun to play with. You can see it live, and it will also be saved online. I will Twitter every time I post one.

Below is a view of my “channel” on Qik.com, which should show all my recent videos. (Only one so far at the time I am writing this.) Today I have yoga class and them a photoshoot with Michael and Azcra. I will try to send some live video from the shoot!

Originally published in my journal, Stephanie's Thoughts. Leave me a comment!

Goodmorning, Belly, originally uploaded by punquin.

It is interesting to notice how the questions I get from people evolve as my pregnancy progresses. When I first announced it, everyone asked about the baby’s sex. Now that I’m 6 months and we’ve known it’s a boy for some time, the question has changed again. Now it is ‘have you picked out a name yet?’ Or some variation. It’s hard to know what to say to that one. We aren’t stressing over names but we’ve mentioned names we like. I don’t think I would tell the public what we choose until it is official. I’ve actually had people tell me what *not* to name him – what if that was the name we loved? It just seems rude.

I sometimes get asked when I am due, but not often. I think that is because I still and so small to a stranger’s eyes. I feel huge, but I realize I don’t even look pregnant at times when out and about. I wonder if that will be the next big wave of questions as I start to get bigger.

On a different note, Baby wants pancakes!

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22 weeks, here I come! (Is my belly button disappearing??), originally uploaded by punquin.

22 weeks! I’m getting more of a belly and feel huge, but I’m still not sure if strangers think I am pregnant.

I had a bit of drama yesterday. While I was waiting for my prenatals to be filled at the pharmacy, I had my blood pressure checked. It was 93/75 with a pulse of 115. When I asked the pharmacist’s opinion, she though I should call my doctor. I called when I got home and the nurse was worried about my fast pulse (but not so much the bp) and had me see the doctor.

I normally have a huge spike in blood pressure due to anxiety when I get to my appointments, so it was up to 120/63 there. The doctor decided to make the appontment count as my monthly one so I didn’t need to come back in 2 weeks. I heard the baby’s heartbeat – sounded wonderful as usual, and he was moving all over and visibly kicking me.

She told me to pay attention to my pulse rate and note if it gets that high again. If it goes that high more than a couple times a week, she wants to put a monitor on me for 24 hours to determine if I need medication. I guess this is something that can happen in pregnancy. I always have a fast pulse, but that was rediculous and it was making me shake.

My weight looked good to them. I’d gained 1 lb in the 2 weeks since they’d seen me. I was told I’d likely start gaining faster now, but the doctor thought I’d probably only gain around 25 total. I’m just going with the flow… As long as the baby’s size is on track, I am happy!

Once back home, I had to deal with a medical lab that keeps submitting my test fees to our old insurance (which of course denies them!) I again gave them the right info over the phone, so hopefully they’ll stop sending invoices.

I also called a local yoga studio I’d been wanting to try out but had been waiting for our extra car payment to end. They were super nice and told me which classes would work for me. So I’ll be going to a trail class on Saturday morning. I have no idea if there will be anyone else there for prenatal yoga. It is a “gentle yoga” class that accepts prenatal clients. I am really excited to try it. I’ve been wanting something to help with both the aches and all my “what if something bad happens” stress.

Originally published in my journal, Stephanie's Thoughts. Leave me a comment!

Here is a terrible video taken this morning in bed with my cell phone. The baby was moshing so hard my belly was moving. Watch the curve up my belly just past the tip of my thumb in the second half of the video. You’ll see a few kicks! The noise is my tummy saying, “Get up and feed me!”

Originally published in my journal, Stephanie's Thoughts. Leave me a comment!

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Today’s Outfit, originally uploaded by punquin.

I am 21 weeks today! My latest milestone – as of yesterday – is feeling the baby kick while I am standing up. Until now, I’d only felt him while sitting or laying. He is a super active little guy! I felt a few kicks last night at work when I was standing at the front desk installing printer drivers. And, this morning, while checking out at the grocery store (prune juice, yuck) he was kicking some more. Fun!

On Saturday we got the nursery painted. Danny did the large spaces with the roller and I did all the edging. There are a lot of edges in a room with 3 doors, 2 windows, a ceiling and a floor! It looks really sweet and calming.

I’m growing out of all of my clothes! All of my shirts are getting too short to wrap around the belly. Doh.

Originally published in my journal, Stephanie's Thoughts. Leave me a comment!

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On Sunday, I went to the Maryland Renaissance Festival with my brother and niece. I had a lot of fun wandering around and seeing the sights. It’s always fun to see things through a child’s perspective. All three f us dressed up. Cassie was a princess fairy (and later added a unicorn horn to the ensemble), my brother was a jester, and I managed to find a renaissance-looking outfit in my closet that fit over my 5 month bump.

Originally published in my journal, Stephanie's Thoughts. Leave me a comment!

20 Weeks!, originally uploaded by punquin.

I made it to the halfway point – 20 weeks – yesterday! I just got back from my 5 month doctor’s appointment this morning. Everything looked good… My uterus has made it up to my belly button, which is right on target. Baby’s heartbeat sounded good, though he was squirming away, as usual.

Baby boy is very very active, pretty much whenever I am awake. Everything from little kicks and rolls to full on body slams. He really likes beating Danny’s hand when we are laying in bed.

It’s October! I love October… However, we found out last night that Danny’s brother and his wife have to cancel their trip out to see us this month due to a family emergency. A big bummer, and we are sending good thoughts their way. I am hoping to still do all the fun autumn stuff we’d planned, like see the mountains and go to a farm for pumpkins and apples.

We picked out our nursery paint, “Chinese Jade”, so we need to do that soon. We’ve also started on our baby registries. So much to think about, geez!

Originally published in my journal, Stephanie's Thoughts. Leave me a comment!

19 Weeks 2 Days, originally uploaded by punquin.

BOY! Wow! I am the girliest-girl ever, so this will be the adventure of a lifetime. I’m not surprised. I’ve only had boy dreams and kept calling him “he” without thinking.

The ultrasound went well. Baby was moving like crazy, like always. She asked us if we wanted to know the sex before she headed in that direction, and she didn’t even have to tell me. I said “THAT’S A BOY! That is DEFINITELY a boy…” Sorry – I didn’t scan in the junk picture, heh.

She took a ton of measurements, but it still went by too fast. He’s got a big ‘ol noggin like his mommy. They estimated him a little big in general. Where exactly am I going to fit a big baby boy in my tiny body? Oh, my.

So baby boy has his head really low, smooshing my bladder. I’ve definitely been feeling that for the past couple of days! She had to struggle a bit to get all her brain shots. His rump is up on my right side nearer the top. It is the lump I see at night when I get all lop-sided. He was drumming and dancing so the hands and feet were all over the place. I was feeling most of it. A nice perk to being skinny!

They gave us a certificate for a free 4D scan which we’ll use at 28 weeks. My next OB appointment will be next week – the 20 week one.

Originally published in my journal, Stephanie's Thoughts. Leave me a comment!

Ugh, my morning – not good. I hadn’t slept much the night before due to stress over my ultrasound this afternoon. So things already weren’t starting out right.

I can’t walk China anymore – she is bad on leash and the pulling hurts me. So, I was in the side yard with them picking up her poo (diarrhea, no less). Benny was with us. When I went to open the storm door, it wouldn’t open! It felt locked, though I didn’t even know it *could* lock. I had been in and out of it a couple times while China was out there, so it was a surprise.

After pounding to see if I could loosen it, I tried all the house doors. Of course we keep everything locked. I put the dogs in the back yard and walked a few blocks to our friends house. They have a key. But, no one was home. I walked back, having sharp intestinal cramps from the stress. I tried the storm door one more time, then started trying neighbors. Next door, no one answered. The cop’s house on our street – no one was home. One house had their inner door open so I tried that. The wife answered and kindly let me use their phone to call Danny. While I was telling him what happened, she was listening and offered to get her husband – she said he did handyman work. I was so grateful! I’m 5 months pg and have eaten nor drank nothing today and was crampy and freaking out.

The both came over after I got the dogs back into the backyard (I had let them in the side again so they could get out of the rain on the porch. China was mad and wanted inside. She wanted nothing to do with me herding her back out in the rain, but I got her there. It took only 30 seconds for the neighbor to jimmy the door open with a screw driver. What a relief! There turned out to be a little metal bar you can slide back and forth to lock. I guess it locked itself…

I am ready to curl up in fetal position at this point. Ugh.

Originally published in my journal, Stephanie's Thoughts. Leave me a comment!