17 Weeks -- An Insatiable Desire For Food

As of February 14th (Happy Valentine's Day!) our little one reached 17 weeks of growth (and I think I may have officially 'popped'--though being my first, who is to know?!). According to my readings, s/he is approximately the size of a sweet potato...the sweet potatoes that are about 5 inches long. Isn't that crazy to think?! Our little sprout is a-growing!

I have been feeling fantastic physically, but I do have my off-days emotionally. Usually these days include me feeling very moody. I tend to alternate between wanting to cry and wanting to lash out at everything that gets in my way. When I look back on those days, I'm very thankful for my patient husband--he always helps me through them.  

My food cravings have been getting worse. I usually want to eat everything I don't have in our fridge/pantry. I'm working on trying to make a weekly menu that offers up a variety of things so that I can pick dinner based on how I feel. Yea, easier said than done :) Pinterest has me drooling on a regular basis and I have been working hard to stretch our budget to include unusual foods (in our house) such as bruschetta, black bean burgers, and pad Thai. Yet, my low-carb limitations have me working hard to limit these bad-bad cravings ;)

Other than my insatiable desire for various foods, the only other change that I have noticed is my constant running nose. Apparently, without getting too graphic, a symptom of pregnancy involves the constant movement of the mucus membranes in my sinuses. This has resulted in a constant need for tissues. Interesting huh? ;) And here I thought it was a cold that I couldn't kick. Oh well, at least I know I'm not sick! 

On Thursday we had a check-up. It was the first time that we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat. That was a really cool experience. I wish we could have listened to it for hours. That quick little chuga-chuga was God's music for a mama's ears. It was all I could do to not grab the nurse's hands and make them keep the monitor on my abdomen all day. Oh to know that our little one is in there thriving away--I have dreamt of that moment forever. God is SO good. 

We also were able to talk to one of the doctors who may be delivering our little one. Dr. M and his wife both work at the practice that we go to--so that sort of excites me. I love the idea of having a married couple meet with us throughout this pregnancy.  We had a decently long conversation about his views on childbirth and what he allows/doesn't allow. I was encouraged to hear that he believes in doing everything as naturally as possible--his view being that a women's body knows what she it's doing. He doesn't do episiotomys-ever, he doesn't believe in C-sections unless completely necessary, and avoids inductions unless the baby seems to be in distress. All huge pluses in our book. He will allow me to go to 42 weeks, as long as things seem alright and the baby isn't too big. Both Jonathan and I were impressed and excited to meet his wife at our next appointment. An answer to prayers. 

We are also excited to share that we had our ultrasound moved up! We were supposed to see our little one again and find out if it's a he/she on March 5th, but due to scheduling issues on their end, we have been able to move up our appointment to Tuesday, February 26th!!! Ahh that is only 10 days away!!! We are ecstatic and can't wait to call our child by name. 

You can expect a post about the nursery next week :) I think we are overdue for a bit of an update and maybe a post, or two, about the ideas I have. Of course they are all based on the baby's gender to some degree. Oh the ideas are plentiful! 

And just for a little something at the end of this VERY long post, a way-too-cute picture of our puppers: 

She was desperate for some more attention...like she doesn't get enough already! ha!