Baby #2's First Pictures

I'm 20 weeks tomorrow! Officially halfway through this pregnancy. It's pretty much been a deja vu of my last pregnancy so far...just as sick, if not more than before. I seem to remember feeling better by this point last time, but it's hard to truly remember specifics. I'm still on my meds, usually full strength, but I have been improving very gradually. I can actually eat some meat now! Only beef for some reason, but still...meat! I still feel like I could throw up at any moment throughout the day, but usually don't. I'm thankful I have gained back 8 of the 12 lbs I originally lost now (so -4 lbs from the start)! That's actually a lot of weight gain in a short amount of time! Unfortunately, most of my new food cravings include chocolate and sweets. Hmm...  If I could ask for prayer now, it would mostly be for my energy and blood pressure to increase! I feel so weak and faint most of the time, unable to stand for more than a minute at a time without having to sit down. I'm really praying this gets better as I try to increase my iron intake and start to get some light exercise. Thanks for your prayers.

Now for the fun stuff. Baby has been kicking a lot over the past 4 weeks, and now we can feel kicks from the outside. We also had our 20 week anatomy ultrasound done on Monday, where we got our first glimpse of Baby! The first thing the technician said was, "Well, looks like there's only one baby..." Praise the Lord. Haha. It was such a relief to see him/her kicking away and to hear the heartbeat again. A steady one at 151 bpm. Estimated weight= 11 oz. Charlie came with us and didn't stop talking the whole time. He said, "Too loud!" when we listened to the heartbeat, and he wanted to "Hug Mama.." when I was lying in the chair during the ultrasound. He recognized the baby on the screen and said, "Don't hurt baby"... (maybe the wand on my belly worried him?). When we first walked into the dark room he didn't like that it was dark, either. He said, "Afraid dark!... Jesus light" because every time he says he's afraid of the dark, we tell him that it's ok because Jesus is the light :) And finally, "Pop bubbles!" while pointing at the screen, because he thought that's what Baby's tummy and head looked like. "Pop, pop, pop!" :)

The baby looked great and is measuring perfectly on schedule. Take a look!

Baby's profile and foot near head

Baby face-on with hand under chin

Baby kiss! Nose, lips, & chin facing us